Thrill of the Fight
by mr.diddles
Summary: Brick Underwood says that he's at Beacon for a good fight. But deep down he knows its about much, much more. It's about vengeance. Rated M for coarse language and sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Beacon

**Chapter 1**

**Welcome to Beacon**

Today was the day that the new set of first year students would begin heading on their paths to greatness. Today, they would be going to Beacon. One of these students, was Brick Underwood.

He stood at 6"5. He had medium length black hair with red highlights in the back, but his hair was covered by his black biker helmet with red stripes. He wore a black leather biker jacket, with a red vest underneath, and black cargo pants. His vest was bullet proof. On his waist, two sheathed swords hung from a belt. On his left pant leg were three throwing knives. Brick's dark red eyes were covered by his red sunglasses.

Brick was amongst the crowd of students, which made him kind of agitated since he didn't like crowds, but he had to just deal with it until he could get on the airship. After wading through the large amount of students, Brick finally got on the airship. He looked around for a place to sit down, and the only place that wasn't taken was next to these two girls.

One of the girls looked too young to be here. This girl had hair like Bricks, and wore a red hooded cloak and a combat skirt.

The other girl was an extremely busty blonde girl. She was wearing a tan vest with short puffy sleeves, and black short shorts which in the back resembled a skirt. Around her neck was an orange scarf. On her hands she wore fingerless gloves and around her wrists were yellow bracelets.

Brick approached the two girls. "Do you mind if I sit here? There doesn't appear to be anywhere else to sit." He asked.

The blonde gave Brick a grin. "I'd be glad to let you sit next to me." The other girl sighed at the blonde's comment. Brick sat down, trying to ignore her comment. Once Brick got comfortable in his seat, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded paper.

It was a picture of his mom, his older brother, and his two younger sisters. He smiled as he stared at the picture. Brick hadn't seen his family since coming to Vale. Brick was originally from a city nearby Vale called Atlas. When Brick turned eighteen, his mother had applied him to Beacon. He passed the entrance exam with ease. So his family stayed in Atlas while he went to Vale.

Brick could sense that the blonde girl was looking over his shoulder. He put the picture away and turned to make eye contact with the blonde. "I completely forgot to mention, I'm Brick you can just call me Ricky if you like." Brick extended his arm out.

The blonde grabbed his hand and shook. "I'm Yang. This here," She said, pointing at the girl next to her. "Is my sister Ruby." Brick was shocked to hear that they were sisters. They shared no resemblance to each other.

"Actually, were step-sisters. My mom married Yang's dad." (A/N) Ruby explained.

"Oh. Well it's nice to meet both of you." Brick said.

After that, Brick didn't really talk to them. But he noticed that Yang was still staring at him for most of the remainder of the ride. The flight took much longer than Brick had expected. After two hours of sitting on the ship, which involved Brick looking around and taking a short nap, the airship finally arrived at Beacon.

Brick walked off and admired the courtyard. While he wasn't the biggest fan of nature, Brick couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty of the courtyard. He made his way to the entrance when suddenly he heard a loud boom. Brick ran in the direction of the sound and Ruby on the ground next to another girl. Brick recognized the other girl as Weiss Schnee. He remembered taking his little sisters to see one of her singing performances. She was quite a good singer.

Brick noticed that lying on the ground around them were some cases with the Schnee Dust Company logo. From the charred look of the ground, Brick figured that the cases held dust which was somehow ignited, causing the explosion.

The two girls seemed to be fighting and Brick didn't feel it was his place to get involved, so he just headed into the school. The auditorium was crowded with the first year students, making Brick feel uncomfortable once again. He maneuvered his way into a spot with not as many people crowding around him.

Ozpin tapped the mic to get everyone's attention. "I'll…keep this brief." He started. "You have come here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you are finished you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you…and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you, to take the first step." Ozpin then stepped off the stage and exited the room.

Glynda then instructed all of the students to gather in the "barn". Brick made his way to the barn. Inside the barn were many sleeping bags already laid out for the students. Brick found a big enough sleeping bag and pulled it aside so he could have some alone time. Brick pulled out headphones and his IPod. For a while, he just enjoyed his music. Since the airship ride took so long, it was already late.

Brick was getting ready to go to sleep when he heard arguing. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was Ruby, Yang and Weiss all arguing while crowding around another girl. Brick just chuckled to himself and continued getting ready for bed.

After getting into his red and black striped pajamas pant and a black tank top, he resumed listening to his IPod. He was greatly enjoying his solitude when Yang came and broke it.

"Hey Ricky. Why are you all by yourself?" She asked.

"I like my alone time which you are currently interrupting." Brick answered snidely.

"I was going for that. You look really depressing just sitting there all by yourself."

"And you think that two people sitting alone in a corner is any less depressing than one?"

Yang chuckled and shook her. "There is nothing depressing about this girl." She declared while pointing at herself. Brick grinned at her. "Hang on a sec. I'll be right back." Yang said as she stood up. She walked over to where her stuff was set up and she dragged her stuff and sleeping bag over to where I was set up.

"Your alone time ends now." Yang said. "You and I are going to become friends whether you like it or not."

"Well you aren't giving me much of a choice, are you?"

"Nope."

"Alright then." Brick said. Out from his suitcase, Brick pulled out a knife sharpener and began to sharpen one of his throwing knives.

"Nice blade." Yang commented.

"Thanks. I got a bunch more. I like sharp things. What about you?"

Yang brought up her fists. "I'm more of a bash your skull in kind of girl. I like use my gauntlets." The yellow bracelets began to expand into gauntlets. The gauntlets seemed to have holes in them which Brick assumed was for shooting.

"Nice." Brick said. He put away his knife and sharpener.

"So what made you want to come here?" Asked Yang.

"For the thrill of the fight. How about you?"

"Same reason." She replied.

"I see. You seemed like the type of girl who likes a good fight."

"That's me. I'm kind of a badass when it comes to fighting." Brick just chuckled at her.

After that, the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, but Yang couldn't take it for much longer. "Who was that in the picture?" She asked.

"Hmm?"

"The picture you were looking at when we were on the ship. Was that your family?"

"Yeah it was." Brick pulled the picture out of his pocket and showed it to Yang. Brick identified all of the people in the picture for Yang.

"Why isn't your dad there?" She asked.

Brick sighed. "My dad died eight years ago."

Yang had a hard time forming her words. She felt terrible for being so insensitive. "I'm so sorry."

Brick just gave her an empty smile. "It's alright. You didn't know." Silence returned again. This time it was uncomfortable. Brick just got into his sleeping bag and put his head down. Yang did the same. Before going to sleep, she looked over at Brick, who had his back to her. "Good night Brick."

"Good night Yang."

_The Next Morning_

Yang was woken up by Ruby poking her side. "Yang! Come on, we gotta go! We need to get our gear! The initiation is in twenty minutes!" Yang rolled over and pushed her hair out of her face so she could look at her sister.

"Alright, alright I'm coming. You go on ahead. I'll be there soon." Ruby ran off to the locker room. Yang looked over to where Brick was sleeping to find that he was already gone.

_Beacon Cliffs_

Brick was already standing on a platform. He patiently waited for the other students to show up. He was holding his helmet under his arm. Once everyone arrived, Ozpin and Goodwitch told everyone about team formations and partners. Then Ozpin gave us our task of collecting a relic from an old temple in the Emerald Forest. Once he finished explaining, the platforms began lunching students into the air. Brick braced himself, and his turn to be launched came. When he landed, Brick hit the ground and rolled, sprinting immediately after coming out of his roll. He could see a Beowolf in the distance who hadn't yet noticed him. While sprinting, Brick took one of his throwing knives and gave it a strong toss. The knife stabbed the Grimm in the neck and it died instantly. He retrieved his knife as he ran past the corpse.

After doing the same to a few more Grimm that would've been in his way, Brick finally made it to the temple. He looked around and examined the relics which turned out to be ordinary chess pieces. He grabbed the white king piece and made his way back. On his way back, Brick came across a bridge. He saw a bunch of people including Yang, Ruby and Weiss fighting off both a Nevermore and a Deathstalker. The group fighting the Deathstalker seemed to be doing fine on their own. But the Nevermore was proving to be more of a challenge.

Brick ran up to help them, but he didn't end up needing to. They had trapped the Nevermore in ice and had made a giant slingshot. Ruby was then launched from said slingshot at the trapped Nevermore. With her scythe around its neck, she ran up the mountain taking the Nevermore with her. When she reach the top, the birds head came off and its body slowly fell down.

Brick approached the girls. "That was awesome!"

Yang turned to look at him. "Oh hi Ricky. Yeah it was pretty awesome." But their celebration would be interrupted. A new loud roar came from the sky. In the distance, Brick could see a giant Grimm Dragon headed their way.

"Guys! We've got a big problem." Brick pointed at the sky and the girls all got into a combat stance.

Weiss tried shooting it with ice but the dragon just breathed fire and obliterated her blast. The dragon swooped in, trying to knock us off the bridge. Weiss and Yang got out of the way in time, but Brick wasn't so lucky. The dragon managed to hit Brick but instead of him falling, Brick was now on the one of the dragon's wing. Brick pulled out his swords and proceeded to stab the wing, which forced the dragon to land. The beast shook Brick off its wing. Brick landed on his feet and wasted no time running at the dragon. As Brick was running, his swords ignited in a black fire. When Brick got close, the dragon breathed fire at him, but Brick just rolled out of the way. Brick slashed at the dragons face as he dodged claw swipes and biting attempts.

Eventually Brick realized that just slashing at the beast wasn't enough. Brick took a risk and climbed up on the dragon's head. The dragon tried to shake him off, but Brick managed to get in a fiery stab at the dragon's eye. The beast cried out in pain. Brick quickly jumped off the dragon's head as the dark fire from Brick's swords started to spread from the dragon's eye to the rest of the dragon's body. It's roared in pain until it finally died. The dark flames continued to engulf the dragon's flesh until all that was left was a skeleton.

"Now that, was awesome! You just took on a dragon! By yourself!" Yang shouted

Brick just gave her a grin. "All in a day's work." He said as he walked away.

_Beacon Academy – Assembly Hall_

The team forming ceremony was going on. Teams CRDL and JNPR had already been made along with many other teams. The whole time, Brick was wondering what team he would be on. The only people he had run into all already had partners.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. You four collect the white knight pieces. Together you will be team RWBY. Lead by, Ruby Rose." Yang gave her sister a pat on the back. After team RWBY walked off the stage Ozpin came up to the mic. "Finally," Ozpin began again. "This year, due to a last minute entry (A/N) we have one extra student. Brick Underwood, who obtained the white king piece, please come up." Brick stood up and came on stage. "You will be randomly placed on one of the currently formed teams." On the big screen, a wheel appeared with all of the team names. It spun and after ten seconds, it slowed down. When it stopped, it landed on team RWBY.

"Congratulations to team RWBY. You will be receiving an extra member. This already shaping up to be an interesting year." The students were dismissed.

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY Dorm_

The five teammates entered the room. They found that there was only four bed in the room. Before Brick could do anything about it, the four girls ran to claim beds, leaving Brick to sleep on the floor. Brick just set up his stuff and grabbed an extra blanket from the closet. Brick then went into the washroom and locked the door.

He got undressed and turned on the shower. He had the hot water turned all the way up. Once the water had finished heating up, he got in the shower. While most people felt large amounts of pain in such boiling hot water, this temperature was soothing for Brick. He enjoyed the hot water while he cleaned himself. After he finished, he got out of the shower, dried off, and wrapped his towel around his waist.

Brick only found that showering at such a high temperature had only one serious problem. When Brick opened the door, the whole dorm room quickly filled with steam. The room instantly turned into a sauna.

"What on earth were you doing? Why is there all this steam?" Weiss asked angrily.

"I like taking hot showers. Get used to it."

Ruby looked around and smiled. "Just like home, huh Yang?"

"Yup." Yang replied. "I also love taking steaming hot showers."

Brick grabbed his clothes and went back into the bathroom to change. He came out wearing just his pajama pants. A part of Brick felt more comfortable in the steam without a shirt. The other part was Brick wanting to show off his muscles. He was living with four girls. Yang looked at Brick and admired his physique. His arm muscles were toned well and he had a six pack.

Brick just sat down on his makeshift bed and leaned against the wall. "Do you wanna share my bed?" Yang offered.

"No thanks. I'm fine here and the beds aren't that big anyway."

"Are you sure? I don't mind sharing. I just feel bad making you sleep on the floor." That got to Brick. One of his fatal flaws is that he hated making his friends feel bad.

"Alright fine." Brick cleaned up his makeshift bed and sat next to Yang on her bed.

_"Usually when a hot guy comes on to my bed, we have some fun. And most guys jump at the chance. But Brick is different."_ Yang thought to herself.

Brick got under the covers and faced the wall. Yang got under the covers with him and unlike the last night, she lied down facing him. She just stared at the back of his head. Eventually, Brick looked over his shoulder. "Hey Yang?"

"Yeah Ricky."

"Thanks for sharing."

"You're welcome."

Weiss eventually got fed up with the steam and turned on the fan which made the room really cold. Brick could tell that Yang was shivering. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm just really cold."

Brick rolled over to face her and he motioned for her to come closer. She complied and when she was close, Brick wrapped her up in his embrace. Yang could feel his body emitting a pleasant warmth.

"That's much better. Thanks."

"You're welcome. I wouldn't want you to be cold just cause' the ice queen over there can stand a little steam."

"I heard that!" Weiss shouted which caused both Yang and Brick to laugh.

"Good night Yang."

"Good night Brick."

**A/N: This is just my personal theory as to how Yang and Ruby could be sisters and not have the same last name and not resemble each other in the slightest.  
Other A/N: The last minute entry was not Brick. It was Ruby. Brick was accepted into Beacon normally.**

**So I hope that you all enjoy this first chapter. I know I jammed arriving at Beacon and the initiation into one chapter, but anyone who has read multiple RWBY Fanfics has probably read this section a few times. I wanted to get it out of the way so I could go into some non-canonical plot lines, which will begin only somewhat in the next chapter due to how the RWBY canon works. And as always, please review or pm me with your feedback. Last but not least, shout out to dubstepkitty24 for being the brains behind Brick Underwood.**


	2. Chapter 2: First Day of Classes

**Chapter 2**

**First Day of Classes**

Brick woke up with Yang still in his arms. His cheeks went hot as he tried to get off of her without waking her. He managed to get up and out of the bed without waking Yang. Brick looked at the clock and saw that it was only 6:00. Brick checked his scroll that he received yesterday. His first class was with the rest of his team at 9:00. So he had some time to kill. Brick got dressed into his normal attire and made his way over to the gym.

Brick did everything from bench pressing to punching out training dummies. He worked out until around 8:00. Brick realized that he didn't leave a note or anything saying where he was so he ran back to his dorm. Brick ran past the cafeteria and saw that breakfast was being served so he took a small detour. After he finished eating, he continued heading back to his dorm. By the time he got back, it was 8:30. He was right outside his dorm when he heard noises that reminded him of a construction zone.

Brick opened the door to find that the beds were not where they were when he left. Two of the beds had now become one bunk bed and the girls were in the process of suspending Ruby's bed in the air using some ropes.

"Umm….So what did I miss?" Brick asked.

"Not much." Ruby started. "We unpacked all of our stuff but after that, there was no room for the beds. So we improvised."

"By hanging a bed from the ceiling?"

"Yup! Isn't it awesome?"

"It's dangerous is what it is!"

"I agree with Brick on this." Weiss interjected.

"Wow. Weiss finally agrees with someone. That's a first." Yang joked. Weiss just scoffed at Yang's comment.

"So where did you run off to?" Blake asked.

"I woke up early and went to the gym. After my workout I got some breakfast."

"You should've woke me. I would've gone with you." Yang stated.

"Well now that I know that I will next time."

"Hey! Instead of standing there, can you please help?!" Ruby shouted as she struggled to keep her grip on the rope. Brick and Yang quickly went to help and the quickly secured the ropes. The room was now complete. Brick still did not have a bed though.

_"I wonder if I'll just keep sharing with Yang. Then I wouldn't need my own bed. But it is kinda awkward to be sharing a bed with a girl I met yesterday." _Brick thought to himself. But he brushed it off.

"Okay team! Unpacking, done! Next step…classes." Ruby checked her scroll. "So our first one is at 9:00."

"9:00? Its 8:55 you dunce!" Weiss shouted as she bolted out the door. The rest of team RWBY ran after her to get to class.

The team just made it with only a minute to spare. They sat down at their table and got out their books. The teacher entered as the clock struck 9:00. He was a larger, rounder man with a thick mustache. He began the class by giving a boring speech about what they would be learning, but anyone who didn't know what they would be learning in a class called Grimm Studies shouldn't be at Beacon. The teacher had introduced himself as Professor Port. In the middle of his speech which Brick was struggling to stay awake through, he went off on a tangent by telling a story of his "heroism".

About three sentences into the story was when Brick fell asleep of boredom. But before he got too comfortable, Yang poked him in the side. Brick sat up and Yang leaned over to whisper to him. "This guy is ridiculous. He keeps giving me this weird look and he is so boring."

Brick chuckled. "I know right. Hey, just out of curiosity, are we still sharing a bed?"

Yang looked surprised to hear this question. "I don't really care. I'm used to sharing my bed with other guys." She joked.

"Please try to be serious."

Yang grinned knowing that her joke was a success. "You can do whatever you want."

While there conversation was going on, Weiss couldn't stand all of Ruby's shenanigans. When Port asked who thought they possessed the traits of a true huntress, she immediately shot up her hand. "I do sir!"

"Well then, come forth and face your opponent." Port looked over at Yang and Brick and caught them having their conversation. "Excuse me Mr. Underwood. Do you have something you would like to share with the class?" All eyes turned to Brick.

"No sir."

Port smiled. "Well then why don't you come up here and partner up with Ms. Schnee?" Brick stood up and got into position next to Weiss.

"Ready…Begin!" Port hacked open the cage and unleashed the Boarbatusk. It came out of the cage already angry and running. Both Brick and Weiss rolled out of the way.

"So how do you think we should play this?" Brick asked.

"By myself." Said Weiss before charging at the Grimm.

The beast caught her strike in its tusks and threw Weiss and her weapon aside. "Well I didn't want to show off but I guess I don't have a choice." Brick said smugly. The Boarbatusk got into a ball and began to gain momentum as it rolled at Brick. At the last possible second, Brick unsheathed his two swords and held his ground against the still spinning Grimm. Brick managed to gain leverage and flung the monster up. It landed on it back, exposing its soft underbelly. Weiss, who had recovered her weapon, jumped up to one of her glyphs and kicked off towards the defenseless creature. She pierced the monsters heart and it groaned before it croaked.

Weiss pulled her sword out of the corpse and stood triumphantly over the dead beast. "Well it seems we are in the presence of true hunters in training. That will be all for today's class. You are dismissed." Port declared. Brick walked over to the rest of his team who met him with high fives for his performance.

Brick then walked over to Weiss. "Nice job there partner." He said as he offered her a high five.

"I didn't need your help. I could have easily done that on my own." She said angrily.

"Well I was there to help so I guess we'll never find out if you're right." Brick retaliated.

Ruby went in between the two and separated them. "Guys break it up."

"Hey! It's not my fault that ice queen over here can't admit that she needed help."

"I don't need help. I'm just fine on my own."

"Well if you think you're so tough, then I bet you think that you could take me down." Brick challenged.

"Is that a challenge?" Weiss asked with false disbelief. "I could beat you down any day of the week."

"Oh we'll see about that. You and me. In sparring class today. We'll let the whole class see who is truly the better fighter."

"Oh you're on!" Said Weiss. She then stormed out of the room in a huff.

"She is so going down." Brick said, with rage in his tone.

"Brick calm down! Weiss is just being stubborn. You don't need to get all angry." Ruby said, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Alright. But I'm still gonna win this fight. Let's go get some lunch."

The rest of team RWBY went to the cafeteria. They were serving pizza which made Brick completely forget about the anger he was feeling. He stacked half a pizza's worth of slices on his plate and sat down with an excited look on his face. Normally Brick would be a gentleman and wait for the rest of his friends to sit down before eating, but pizza was his one exception. He devoured it so fast that by the time the rest of his team sat down, he was already going for seconds.

"Geez. It's like when Ruby eats cookies." Yang said. Brick sat down with the same amount of pizza as the first plate did. "How are you so fit if you eat so much pizza?"

Brick looked up from his food. "I wook owd a wot" He said with his mouth full.

"Can you swallow first?" Yang said while giggling at him.

He finished the food in his mouth and tried talking again. "I work out a lot." Brick said.

"There ya go." Yang said. Brick then resume stuffing himself with pizza.

_About 2 Hours Later_

Brick and the rest of team RWBY finished their history class. It was now time for sparring class. For all of the history period, Weiss was giving Brick a death stare.

"_I'm gonna kick his ass!" _She thought to herself.

"_She won't know what hit her once I'm done with her." _Brick thought to himself.

The team sat down in sparring class and Professor Goodwitch walked in. "Hello students. Unlike your other teachers, I will not being giving an unnecessarily long and boring speech. So who would like to be the first match for this year?" Brick and Weiss were the only two in the room with their hands up. "Thank you for making the decision easy. Please step onto the arena." The two got into place on opposite sides of the arena. "Now I'm pretty sure that you know the rules of a tournament style fight, but my jobs description says that I have to explain them anyway. The first fighter to have their aura drop into the red, become incapacitated, or have their weapon or themselves thrown out of the arena loses. Begin in 3…2…1…now!"

Normally Weiss would always go over her stance before striking, but her anger clouded her judgment. She just turned the dial on her sword and shot a beam of blue dust which hit Brick before he could react. The shot turned Brick into an ice cube. "And he really thought he could b-" Weiss tried saying. She was cut off by a chunk of ice that flew at her. Weiss jumped out of the way and looked back at Brick, whose body was now ignited with black fire.

"Did you forget that fire beats ice?" Brick asked smugly. Weiss just growled at him and charged. Brick let her get close. He then swiftly unsheathed one of his swords to block Weiss's attack. He knocked her away but Weiss kept flying back at him. The repeatedly clashed swords, both of them moving with fantastic agility and coordination. The two were locked in a conflict in which both sides were of equal capabilities.

Eventually, Weiss saw that Brick stumbled after a clash. She took this opportunity and swung at Brick. Her sword managed to scratch his face. Blood dripped from his now angry face. This left Brick stunned and Weiss swung again at him. She landed a slash on Brick's leg which brought him down onto one knee.

"How do you feel knowing that I was right? That you can't beat me?" Weiss said smugly. She then delivered a kick to Brick's stomach. He was now on the ground. Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at his throat. "Admit defeat."

"Ms. Schnee! That's enough! You have already incapacitated him." Goodwitch intervened.

Weiss turned around and began to walk away. "Well, that settles it. The winner is-" Goodwitch said but was cut off.

"Wait! I'm not finished yet."

Brick struggled to stand back up and once again, Brick's body became enveloped in black flames. Once Brick was fully standing, instead of charging at Weiss, he dropped his swords. Weiss thought that Brick was going to fall over again, and once Brick saw that she had fell for his trick and that her guard was down, Brick speedily threw one of his knives which was now flaming. Weiss managed to dodge the throw which distracted her enough for Brick to throw a black fireball at her. Weiss tried to dodge but the fireball was too quick. The blast hit her right in the chest. She went flying back but managed to land on her feet. Oddly, there were no burn marks on her clothes but she still felt the intense heat of the fire as it hit her. Before she could regain her bearings, Brick had already closed in on her. He tackled Weiss to the ground and trapped her underneath him. He raised his fiery arm up to prepare for a punch. Just before Brick was going to strike, a voice from the audience was heard.

"Ricky! Stop!" Yang cried out. "Her sword fell out of the arena when you tackled her." Brick looked over at Yang who was holding Weiss's sword.

"Oh." He said as he got off of Weiss.

"Well it appears that our winner here is Brick Underwood. Unfortunately, this heated battle has taken up all the time we had today. You are dismissed."

Brick extended his hand out to Weiss who was still on the ground. "You're good Weiss. I'm sorry for my earlier rudeness."

This time, instead of rejecting his hand as she had before, she took it and he helped her up. Weiss managed to swallow her pride for what she was about to admit. "It appears that I underestimated you. I was also rude earlier. I'm sorry as well." The two teammates shook hands walked off the arena to be greeted by the rest of the team.

"That fight was totally awesome. You two were so evenly matched. I thought the fight would never end." Ruby said ecstatically.

"I agree. It was an impressive display of combat skill and prowess." Assessed Blake.

"Well," Brick started. "Right now, the only thing I feel is tired. Let's go back to the dorm."

_Beacon Academy - Team RWBY Dorm_

"Yang! Which one is your bed?" Brick asked as he looked around the room.

"It's the top bunk that's not on ropes." Brick slipped off his jacket and vest leaving him with just a black tank top on his torso. Brick climbed up and lied down. He was just staring at the ceiling for a while, until Yang lied down next to him.

"Nice fight today." Said Yang.

"Thanks. Like before, all in a day's work."

"If you don't mid me asking, what's with the black fire?"

"It's my semblance. I can conjure and control fire."

"But why is it black?"

"I'd rather not go into that. It's not a nice memory."

"Oh it can't be that bad."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!"

Brick took a deep breath before speaking. "I...was contacted by a ghost who told me to go to an alien planet to learn the secrets of the force."

"You're kind of a dick, you know that?"

"Yup!" Brick said with a laugh. "But I'm still a badass."

Yang gave him a light punch in the arm. "Are you ever gonna tell me?"

"When the time is right."

Yang then sat up and looked at Brick's face. The scratch from his fight was quite visible. It was right under his left eye and was most likely going to leave a scar. But it did make him look tougher.

"Are you okay?" Asked Yang.

"What do you mean?"

"Well Weiss did get some pretty good slashes in on you. Does your leg hurt? Does your face hurt?" Yang had a few more questions but Brick stopped her.

"Yang don't worry about me. I've been through a lot worse." Brick reassured her. Yang lied down again, this time resting her head on his chest.

"Umm…What are you doing, Yang?" Asked Brick, with discomfort in his voice.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"I think that you trying to snuggle with me."

"If you knew what I was doing then why did you ask?" Said Yang.

"Alright then. Let me rephrase. Why are you trying to snuggle with me?"

"You make a good pillow." Said Yang.

"Well don't get too comfy. We still need to have dinner."

"Or we could just get Ruby to bring us food."

"Or we could eat with everyone else like normal people."

"Ugh! Why are you ruining all of my fun?" Whined Yang.

"When you're okay with me using your chest as a pillow, then you can complain."

Yang lifted her head off of Brick. She sat up slightly and leaned on the wall for support. "Go right ahead. Use my chest as a pillow."

Brick did not see this move coming. He felt his cheeks got hot as he looked at Yang's chest. "Umm…You are joking, right?"

"Nope. Go ahead. If you're worried about lying on my boobs, you shouldn't be. I'm very used to guys putting their heads there."

Brick wasn't sure how he could get out of this one. This was someone he met two days ago, and as hot as she was, he didn't feel right doing it. He also wasn't quite sure how to address Yang's last remark.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I'm ok with it if that's what you're worried about."

"Umm…I don't think that it would be right for me to lie on your chest. But you've made your point. Hey Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm exhausted from my fight so I'm not coming to dinner, and Yang is gonna keep me company. Can you bring us back something?"

"Sure. Just as long as I don't come back to find you two doing it."

Yang pumped her fist and lied back down on Brick. Brick was blushing again. "Thanks Ruby." He then looked at Yang. "You are ridiculous. I hope you know that."

"And I'm proud of it. Also if you think I'm ridiculous now, then you should come clubbing with me some time."

"I'm not sure I want to."

"Ah well, your loss."

At that second, Brick heard a beep coming from his scroll. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that he was getting a video call from his mother. "Yang, get off."

"But I was just getting comfortable."

"Just get off."

Once Yang got off his chest and sat up, Brick sat up also and accepted the call. The faces of Brick's mother and sisters appeared on his scroll. "Hi Brick!" Said all of them in sync.

"Hi mom! Hi Shayna! Hi Brooke."

"How were your first days at Beacon, sweetie?" Brick's mom asked. Yang giggled. Brick shot her a look.

"They were good. I already have my team. In fact," Brick angled the scroll more towards Yang. "This is Yang. She's one of my teammates." Yang waved to Brick's family who waved back. "So how are all of you?"

"We're doing well. Your brother has still been very busy taking jobs though." Said Brick's mom.

"Is he there?"

"I'm sorry but Byrne (pronounced burn) is on a job as we speak. He's barely ever home nowadays." Brick looked saddened.

"Oh. Well tell him that I said hi."

"Ok I will. I'm sorry but we are going out now so, we gotta go. Bye honey. I love you."

"I love you too." The image of his family then disappeared from the screen.

"They seem nice." Said Yang.

"Thanks." Said Brick. Brick sighed and he put his scroll away.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just kinda wanted to see my brother. Ever since my dad died, he has felt responsible for taking care of the family. He was always there for us by providing for us, but at the same time, he was almost never there. He was always so busy with doing jobs that he was barely ever home. He dropped out Beacon early just to help provide for us."

"Oh." Once again, Yang had brought back bad memories to Bricks mind. "I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do anything. It's not your fault that he was always busy." Said Brick with his head hanging.

"It may not be my fault, but I still feel bad about it."

"That's sweet of you. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Said Yang, as she rested her head back on her human pillow. "Seriously, don't mention it to anyone. I gotta keep up my rep as a bad girl."

"Sure you do."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For the next little while, all chapters in this story are going to be non-canon. Just thought that you awesome readers should be aware of that. Please leave a review or pm me if you have any feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3: Bullies

**So this chapter is a bit shorter than the others but there wasn't really much I could do about it. Without further ado**

**Chapter 3**

**Bullies**

A few weeks had gone by. Brick and Yang stilled shared a bed. Every morning, Brick would get up early and struggle to wake up Yang as well. They would work out for about 2 hours, and then would go to class. After classes they would have lunch, and then after that they had more classes. Brick and Yang usually had dinner in the dorm. The two of them thought that since they were lazy and didn't like going to the cafeteria to get food, they bought a little fridge and stocked up on food so they could eat in the dorm. That fridge may have been the best investment that they have ever made.

They got weekends off which Brick would spend hanging out with his team or training. There wasn't too much excitement in this schedule, with the exception of the occasional small scale Grimm attack that the students would take care of. But there was one part of this seemingly pleasant schedule, that Brick had a hard time dealing with. He wasn't sure if it was because it was something that happened every day or because it happened at all. Either way, he hated it.

Every day at lunch, Cardin Winchester would find someone to pick on or annoy. Whether it was because they were a faunus, or because he felt like putting someone under his boot, Cardin spent every single lunch period picking on someone. And Brick wasn't sure how much longer he could just sit back and watch. He wanted to do something from the first time he witnessed the bullying, but his team always held him back, in fear of what Brick might do to Cardin. But they were starting to lean more towards letting Brick do whatever the hell he wanted.

Once again, lunch time had come around. Teams RWBY and JNPR sat together as usual. Brick did his best to enjoy his lunch until he saw Cardin bullying someone. But something odd happened. The group had been eating for ten minutes and Team CRDL hadn't starting bullying someone. In fact, Brick wasn't even sure that CRDL was there. Brick couldn't help but feel nervous by that. For all he knew, they were gonna do something to one of his teammates. Brick was lost in thought about what could possibly be going on that made them not show up.

"You okay, Ricky?" Asked Yang.

Brick snapped back into reality. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out where Cardin and his team of assholes are."

"Stop worrying Brick. You're letting them get in your head. They probably just got forced to stay after class." Said Yang.

"You're probably right. I should just enjoy my lunch."

The group ate their lunch peacefully, completely unaware of what was actually going on.

In the washroom, Dove and Russell were busy filling water balloons. Sky was holding open a garbage bag to put them in. Cardin of course, was just leaning against the wall while his cronies did all the work. "Alright boys. That should be enough balloons to teach that blonde bitch Yang a lesson about making me look weak in sparring class. She thinks she is so tough, but let's see how tough she is once we ruin her precious hair." Cardin and his goons laughed to themselves about what they were about to pull off.

"Dove! You're going into the vent to drop the balloons. We will cover for you by telling Goodwitch you're ill."

"Understood." Said Dove, as if he was a soldier.

"This is gonna be fucking hilarious."

_In Sparring Class_

All of team RWBY was sitting at their usual table except for Blake, who was currently dueling Ren. They both moved with great speed, each barely able to strike the other. Each fighter's aura was slowly going down but Blake felt like it was time to finish up this match and used her semblance to vanish and appear behind Ren. But he was ready for it. Ren quickly spun around, dropped his weapons and caught Blake's strike in his hands with his aura. He pushed Blake back which staggered her and delivered the finishing strike with his aura charged palm. Blake was knocked onto the floor and her aura went into the red.

"The winner is Lie Ren." Declared Goodwitch. "The two of you fought well. For our next match, we have Dove Bronzewing against Nora Valkyrie." Nora had a mischievous smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, about that." Began Cardin. "He wasn't feeling well so he stayed in bed today."

Goodwitch looked annoyed. "Well then how about you take his place?" Asked Goodwitch. Cardin did as he was asked and got up on the arena opposite to Nora. Cardin quickly glanced up at the vent as he knew his plan was about to be set in motion.

The grate open. Dove poured out the entire garbage bag of balloons onto Yang's head. She was now drenched, but more importantly, her hair was drenched. Yang closed her eyes and took a second to process that she was going to murder the person who did this. She reopened her now red eyes to see Cardin laughing his ass off. Yang got up on the table and jumped from the table onto the arena.

Nora took a few steps away. "As much as I want to beat the living crap outta this guy, can I let Yang take this one?" Goodwitch nodded and Nora got off the stage. Yang activated her gauntlets. So far she hadn't burst into flames like she normally did, which worried everyone. She just stood there, staring at Cardin.

"Umm…is anyone else worried?" Ruby asked. Brick, Weiss and Blake all frantically nodded their heads.

"Alright fighters, Begin."

Cardin ran up to Yang with a swing ready. She did not move at all. When Cardin got close, he swung his mace with great strength. Yang swiftly put her hand up and caught the swing. She pulled Cardin close to whisper in his ear. "I am going to break your face. You will unrecognizable when I'm done with you." Yang grabbed Cardin's throat with her other hand and threw him across the arena so hard that he made a dent in the wall in which he was trapped.

Yang the pumped her gauntlets and her body went a blaze. She fired a shot behind her to propel herself at the still trapped Cardin. She put all of her momentum into her punch and slammed him in his jaw which was now broken. "That one was for being a fucking jerk!" She punched him again. "That was because I hate your fucking smug face!" She raised her fist one more time. "And this is for fucking with my hair!" Her final punch broke Cardin's nose. The majority of Cardin's face was bleeding. Yang then grabbed his shoulders, pulled him out of the wall, and kneed him in the nuts. She then dropped him on the ground and stepped off the arena, wiping some of Cardin's blood off of her face. Goodwitch called a nurse to come and get Cardin. Yang walked back over to the rest of her team.

"That guy got what was coming to him." Said Brick.

"He fucked with my hair, I fucked with his face. Seems like a fair trade to me." Said Yang emotionlessly.

"Come on Yang. Let's go back to the room and get your hair fixed." Brick and Yang went back to the room.

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY Dorm _

Brick sat on the bed while Yang was in the washroom blow drying her hair. After thirty minutes, the loud noise of the blow dryer went away. Yang looked in the mirror at her hair which wasn't in its usual messy state. "GOD DAMNIT CARDIN!" She shouted. Brick came in and looked at her. Yang turned around and put her hands over Brick's eyes.

"Don't look at me! My hair is hideous!" She exclaimed.

"Come on Yang. It can't be that bad." Brick removed her hand from his face and examined her hair. Brick saw that her hair was no longer messy. It was wavy and neat. On any other girl, it would've looked beautiful, but on Yang, it didn't look right.

"Want me to help you mess it up again?" Asked Brick before realizing what he just did. That fact that he even thought of touching Yang's hair was suicide. But she didn't lash out at him.

In fact she did the exact opposite. "Please do that. I would be so grateful."

Brick was shocked by her response. "Umm…Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm okay! Now are you gonna fix my hair for me or not?"

Brick ran his hands through her hair, messing it up as much as he could. After about a minute, Yang's hair looked normal again. "You tell nobody what you saw today or I'll kill you. Got it?" Threatened Yang. Brick nodded his head and went back to sit on the bed.

"Hey Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we just skip class? I really just wanna relax."

"Sure. Fine by me."

"Also, can you grab the ice cream?"

"Sure." Yang pulled out a tub of chocolate ice cream and two spoons. She climbed up onto the bed and sat next to Brick. The two friends dug into the ice cream. About a week and a half into the school year, Brick and Yang discovered each other's mutual act of eating ice cream when sad. The occasion was that Yang got a call from her father about receiving the bill for the club she destroyed. Her dad paid it off but he sold Yang's bike in order to do so. Yang was devastated. She cried for about an hour, not letting anyone near her. Eventually, she calmed down enough to let Brick ask if she wanted anything to make her feel better. That night, with Bricks help, the two of them went through 3 full tubs of ice cream.

They continued eating their ice cream, when Brick thought that maybe it was time to dig a little deeper into his new friend's life. "So Yang. I've told you quite a bit about me. I wanna know more about you."

Yang took a second to consider his request. "Alright. But on one condition."

"What would that be?"

"Once I tell you about my past, you tell me about your father and the black fire."

Brick thought about her condition. He felt at this point, he could trust Yang. "Okay. So let's hear the tale of Yang Xiao Long."

"Well," Began Yang. "I was originally an only child. I was raised by my father, whose doorstep I was dumped onto by a mother who didn't want to raise me. He had quite a bit of trouble raising me. Around when I was 2 years old, he met Summer Rose. The two of them bonded over each other's problems with raising children on their own. They soon fell in love and got married. That was when Ruby and I became sisters. Everything was great. I finally had a mom. But then the accident happened."

"What accident?" Asked Brick.

"Summer was a huntress. Once while on a mission, in a snowy mountain, the Cliffside wasn't stable and it collapsed under her and she fell. Once again I was without a mother, but Ruby took the loss much harder than I did. So in honour of Summer, I do everything I can to keep her safe."

Brick put his hand on Yang's shoulder. "I didn't realize that you went through that. I would say I know how you feel since I went through something similar with my dad, but everyone has a different experience so I can never truly know how you feel."

"That was a long time ago so I've moved on from being sad. It's your turn to tell."

"Alright…My father worked for the Schnee Dust Company as a spy. Ever since the White Fang went violent, the Schnee Dust Company has been more cautious. So people like my dad were necessary to have around. He managed to infiltrate the White Fang and gain the trust of their high level operatives. He had just recently discovered some majorly classified secrets had been stolen from Schnee by the White Fang. But before he could return the stolen files, a rat in the Schnee Dust Company let slip that my dad was a double agent. So they had him killed in an alley way. When the police found the crime scene, the White Fang's symbol was drawn in blood next to the ashes of his burned body as a reminder not to mess with them. The day I saw that was the day I swore vengeance against the White Fang."

"Wow…" Was all Yang could say.

"Which brings me to the real reason I am at Beacon." Yang tilted her head, with a curious look on her face. "I have been gathering information on the White Fang for quite some time now. I eventually got word that a former high leveled White Fang operative was going to be attending Beacon this year. So I applied to Beacon. And now I just need to find that person and get them to tell me where I can find the man who killed my father."

"Oh my god. Brick, why didn't you tell me sooner? I wanna help."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you earlier. I don't want anyone else I care about getting killed."

"You care about me?"

"_Really! That's what she pulled out of that!"_ Brick thought.

"Yes I do. You're my friend. Of course I care about you."

"Aww. That's so sweet…You still haven't explained the black fire."

"That's a reminder of my mission. My semblance is to control fire, but once my father died, my semblance altered to a darker form, to remind me of what those scum at the White Fang did to my father."

Yang stayed silent for a moment. Once again, she brought down a bad memory onto Brick. She climbed off the bed and walked over to the fridge. "What are you doing?" Asked Brick.

"After all this stuff, we're gonna need more ice cream."

Brick laughed and Yang rejoined him on the bed and they continued to enjoy their delicious treat.

Outside the dorm, a red hair man with a black coat and white and red patterned mask was perched on a tree. He had horns on his head. He was looking in a pair of binoculars into Team RWBY's room. He lowered his binoculars and pulled out a cell phone.

"This is Taurus. I've found him. All we need is to get the girl. I'm returning to base now. I want someone for the job by the time I get back. Taurus out."

**Please pm me or leave a review if you would like to share your feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4: Change of Plans

**Hello readers. I'm sorry that this is our so late. I was having a hard time getting over a bad break up along with needing to keep up with school work. But that is mostly out of the way. I thank you all for your patience. Now, without further ado...**

**Chapter 4**

**Change of Plans**

_White Fang HQ_

Adam, the masked man with the bull horns, returned to the base. He made his way to a meeting room where he would be meeting with his business partners.

The door slid open to reveal a room with nothing but an average sized table with a few chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied. The first was occupied by Roman Torchwick. The second was occupied by his associate Cinder Fall.

"So did my people find someone for the job?" Asked Adam as he sat down across from the others.

"No. Your people aren't much help. We want you to go and find someone. Preferably someone that is close to the boy or that is on the inside." Said Cinder.

"I can get you both. I know some people who fit that bill perfectly. It so nice that we both are after the same thing, isn't it?" Replied Adam.

"Yeah, about that. What is your beef with the boy?" Asked Roman.

"I could ask you the same thing." Said Adam. "That boy has been a thorn in the White Fang's side for eight years now. We need him to know not to meddle where he isn't welcome. What about you? What do you want with him?"

"That is on a need to know basis and you don't need to know." Snapped Cinder. She lifted up her hand and it went ablaze. "Or do I need to take action."

"That won't be necessary." Said Adam with worry in his voice. "Now, if you two don't mind, I have to go contact a few people." And with that, he left, leaving Roman and Cinder alone. Roman turned and eyed his partner.

"What do you want with him?" Asked Roman. But Cinder remained silent.

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Beacon Cliffs_

Brick and Blake just got back from a field assignment. The assignment was to create a collaborated presentation with the whole team on the habits of a specific species of Grimm. Prof. Port assigned team RWBY with the Ursa. Now, the way the assignment was meant to be done was with research from books or the internet. But team RWBY decided to take a more direct approach. Since Brick and Blake were the stealthiest, they decided to spend some time in the Emerald Forest so they could get an up close look at the Ursa. Fortunately, the two teammates were able to gather a lot of data without getting spotted by any Grimm.

Or so they thought.

"Good work out there, Blake." Commented Brick.

"You too. That couldn't have gone any better."

As if on cue, the loud screech of a Nevermore came from somewhere nearby. Before either of the two hunter in training could react, the bird had already launched a volley of feathers. Most of the feathers missed their targets but the one that did hit, impaled Blake's right shoulder. It pulled her down to her knees and was stuck in the ground with Blake still on it. "BRICK!" Cried out Blake as he ran over to help her. Brick wasn't quite sure what to do in terms of the feather being in her shoulder but he did manage to unpin Blake from the ground. Brick cradled Blake's upper body in his arm and looked over to face his opponents.

_"I bet I could easily take this guy down. It is only one Nevermore."_

Brick looked up in the sky and almost had a heart attack. He saw not one, not two, but fifteen Nevermores dotting the sky. None of were as big as the one from the initiation, but they weren't small either. The rest started shooting more feathers but this time Brick was prepared for it. He raised the arm that wasn't holding Blake and created a barrier of black fire around them. The feathers incinerated on contact, stopping them from even getting close to touching Brick.

After their large volley, the flock of Nevermore proceeded to fly past them and towards the school. Brick got Blake into a more upright position. "Blake! How ya doin? Can you get up?" Blake winced as she looked over her shoulder at Brick.

"I got hit in the shoulder, not the leg. And besides being in a shit ton of pain, I'm just peachy!"

"No need to snap, it was just a question. We need to get back and warn everyone, now!"

Brick helped Blake up to her feet, but after a few steps, the pain combined with the weight of the feather pulled Blake back to the ground. Before Brick could say 'Told ya so' Blake gave him a look and told him to shut up. Brick chuckled as he scooped up Blake in his arms and ran towards the school. The feather was proving to be quite an obstacle as it jabbed Brick in the side as he ran.

By the time he made it back to the school, it was too late to warn anyone. Everyone was already engaging the enemy. Brick could see many people had already been injured. He saw two Nevermore corpses. Once Brick managed to find a safe place to put Blake down, he charged in to find the rest of his team. Weiss was bouncing from glyph to glyph whilst striking her targets. Ruby and Yang were still on the ground shooting at the Grimm.

"Did I miss much?" Joked Brick.

Yang grinned at him and then fired off another shot, landing a direct hit and knocking it out of the air. "You still in the air now, bitch?" Taunted Yang at the fallen foe. Brick finally joined in the action. He unsheathed his two swords and started running. Once he felt he had enough momentum, he leapt up into the air, his jump boosted by a blast of fire. He whirled around and swung his swords, slicing the heads off of two more Nevermores. Brick rolled upon landing and examined the sky again.

"Only ten more." Said Brick just as Weiss impaled another with her sword. "Scratch that. Nine more." Another Nevermore swooped down towards Brick. He conjured a fireball and shot it at the bird, incinerating it in the process. "This is gonna be much easier than I thought." Declared Brick. But as luck would have it, just after he finished his sentence and feather volley was launched in his direction. Brick turned around just in time to see the feathers almost impale him. Before they could reach their target, Weiss had conjured a protective glyph in front of Brick. "Thanks Weiss. I owe you one." Weiss smiled and then jumped right back into the fighting.

After a little while longer, the students managed to slay the remaining Nevermores. As soon as the last kill was confirmed, Brick rushed over to where he had set Blake down. She was grasping her shoulder and trying to take deep breaths. Brick called over a stretcher and brick plopped Blake on it. "Thanks Brick." She said quietly with a smile, before being carried off to the infirmary. Out of concern for her partner, Yang went along with Blake, and in order to support her sister, Ruby went as well, and because Ruby roped her into it, so did Weiss.

Brick was left to observe the damage. Fortunately, most of the damage caused by the Nevermores was on the school and not the students. The left wing of the school had many holes in it and the spots that didn't had feathers sticking out from them. "This is quite a predicament." Brick heard from behind. He gazed behind him to find Ozpin conversing with Goodwitch. "I guess we will have to cancel classes until the repairs are done. We should gather the students in the auditorium to let them know as soon as possible." Ozpin nodded in agreement and walked over to Brick.

"What are the casualties?" Ozpin asked.

"No deaths. 12 wounded. We came out better than I thought." Stated Brick. Ozpin smiled and began to walk away.

"Wait Professor!" Brick called out. Ozpin stopped walking. Brick approached him. "I couldn't help but overhear you and Professor Goodwitch saying that classes are going to be cancelled until the repairs are finished. Is it possible that you could grant me some time off?"

Ozpin smiled. "I don't see why not. Make sure to hurry and catch an airship." Brick thanked the professor and before he could run off Ozpin asked what he should tell his team when they ask where he is. "Just tell them not to worry and that I'll be back soon."

With that, Brick ran off.

* * *

_The City of Atlas – Underwood Home_

"BRICK!" Shouted his 10 year old sister, Brooke, as Brick entered the home. She greeted Brick with a hug.

"Hey! How ya doing? Have you been good for mom?" Brick teased. Brooke just nodded. Brick's other sister, Shayna, came downstairs and leaned against the wall. Shayna was 15 and a tomboy. "What? No hello for your favourite brother?" Brick joked.

Shayna chuckled. "What do you think Byrne (pronounced burn) would say if he heard that?"

"I'm still waiting for a hello."

"Hello Brick. You happy now?"

"Very much thank you." Brick walked over to his sister and hugged her, causing her to blush. She would never admit it to anyone, but Shayna had this really weird crush on her brother.

"Okay! That's enough touching!" Shayna said. Brick chuckled as he released her from the hug.

"Is mom home?" Brick asked.

Brooke shook her head. "She's still at work. She should be back in a couple of hours."

Brick grinned. "Well that will give us time to catch up."

The three siblings spent the next couples of hours catching up. Shayna informed Brick that she had been accepted back to Signal for a second year, which made Brick proud. Brooke showed her brother a medal she got for winning the city wide mathematics contest. Brooke was really strong in her math and science classes.

One thing that all of the Underwood children had in common was their love for the field of being a hunter. Byrne, Brick, and Shayna preferred the fighting aspect while Brooke was more into building the weapons.

Ever since Byrne had started working his ass off all the time for the family, the three younger siblings had become much closer. Brooke was quite young at the time and didn't want to have her other siblings going away all the time and without Byrne around, the position of man of the house fell into Bricks lap. Shayna did it mostly because she wanted to get closer with Brick.

Brick talked about what Beacon was like and about his teammates. He talked about all of his different fights that he won or lost and about the different quirky teachers. Shayna pretended to not really care but was truly really interested in it. Brooke's eyes were practically sparkling the whole time Brick talked about Ruby's scythe.

After a little while longer of chatting, the three siblings heard the door creak open. Brick looked into the hallway and saw his mom carrying some grocery bags. She was looking at her feet when she entered so she hadn't seen Brick yet.

"Hi girls! I'm home! Sorry I'm late. I just got a f-" She stopped when her eyes finally met with Brick's. She had a huge smile on her face as she placed down her grocery bags and rushed over to hug her son. "Brick! Well this is a nice surprise!"

"Hi mom. It's nice to see you too. How have you been?"

"I'm good. Things at work have been a bit difficult for everyone, but other than that I'm good. I'm glad you're home."

"I'm only here for a little while. But for the time being, I'm glad to be home too."

Brick and his mother went into the kitchen. The two continued to catch up with each other as they prepared a meal for the family. He explained to her all the stuff about Beacon and his team that he had told to his sisters. When they finished preparing dinner, the family sat down together at the dinner table and enjoyed. "This is really good!" Exclaimed Brooke.

Brick and his mother smiled. "Thanks." They both said.

The family ate mostly in silence with the occasional question or comment. While it was pretty quiet, there still was a happy aura at the dinner table. "Do you think Byrne will be back before I leave?" Brick asked.

His mother shook her head in disappointment. "He actually left on another job earlier this morning." She said dismally.

Brick was saddened by this but he didn't let it show. "Alright. Tell him I said hi though." His mom nodded and the family continued to eat. When they were finally finished, Brick went upstairs to visit his old room. To Brick's relief, all of his stuff was where he had left it when he first left for Beacon. He sat down on his bed and turned on his Xbox.

About 10 minutes into his gaming session, Shayna knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Brick asked. "It's Shayna. Can I come in?"

"Yeah sure." Shayna entered Brick's room and sat down next to him. "You wanna play?" He asked her while gesturing towards another remote. She answered by grabbing the remote and joining into the game. While Shayna was good at video games, Brick was much better. In the end he won, as usual.

"How are you so good at this?" Asked a defeated Shayna.

"Lots and lots of practice." Brick said.

"You know, we really did miss you Brick."

"I can imagine so. I'm sorry I couldn't visit sooner."

"It's alright." Started Shayna. "I just wish I could be at Beacon with you."

"Me too. But you'll just have to wait. Just remember, I'm also just one video call away."

Shayna nodded. Her watch beeped which meant she was going to bed. Once she left, Brick checked the time for himself and decided that he should get to sleep early.

* * *

_Roman's Warehouse_

Roman was busy checking his newly acquired inventory, when Cinder arrived. "This better be important, Roman!" Cinder snapped.

"Geez! Don't get your panties in a bunch." Said Roman. "I have something to show you, and I think you'll be very happy once you see it."

Roman gestured for Cinder to follow him. Roman guided her over to a massive crate with the Schnee Dust Company logo on it. There was an electronic panel on the front that read 'Project Survivor'.

"Let me assure you, this was not easy to get our hands on." Explained Roman. Cinder had a mischievous grin on her face. "Let me see it." Requested Cinder. Roman obliged by sliding a key card in front of the panel. A whirring sound was coming from the crate as it mechanically opened itself.

Cinder gasped. "I was starting to think that this didn't exist. Now all we need is the boy."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope to be back to a more frequent schedule with posting new chapters. Please pm or leave a review if you have any feedback.**


	5. Chapter 5: Confessions

**Chapter 5**

**Confessions**

_The Fridge (The Schnee Dust Company's Secret Storage Facility)_

A squad of armed men waited at the entrance, accompanied by none other than Mr. Schnee himself. Most employees knew that if the boss was personally overseeing something, then it had to be important. This time, Mr. Schnee was overseeing a very important delivery. Usually when something was being delivered to the Fridge, it was something very dangerous.

Mr. Schnee frantically check his watch. "They are already thirty minutes behind schedule." He said with worry. But just then, he saw the truck that was supposed to be carrying the package approaching in the distance. For a moment, Mr. Schnee put his nervousness to rest. But that moment would not last long.

The truck pulled up in front of the facility. From the passenger side door, a Schnee Dust Company employee exited. Mr. Schnee was about to approach him and shake his hand, but before he could take a single step forward, the sound of a shotgun ringed through the air.

The man now had a hole in his chest. He slumped to the ground revealing the man hiding behind him.

"Mind if I drop in?" Asked Adam.

Mr. Schnee growled. "What is the meaning of this?" He yelled. His squad raised their guns and aimed at Adam.

Adam chuckled. "I'm just here to deliver a message." He then turned around and began to walk away.

"Alright men. OPEN FIRE!" Mr. Schnee commanded.

Before a single bullet was fired, Adam had already turned around and dashed towards his first target. He quickly sliced his chest and took advantage of his current stance to shoot another guard. Adam made very quick work of the remaining guards, leaving Mr. Schnee standing surrounded by the corpses of his men.

The sound of a chopper grew louder as a rope ladder dropped in front of Adam. He climbed onto the ladder and before taking off he shouted "I leave you untouched today. But if we meet again, you won't be so lucky." The chopper speedily carried Adam away.

A few more guards made their way over to check on Mr. Schnee who was just fine. "We need to check that truck, NOW!" He shouted. He and the guards went to the back of the trucks trailer. The trailer was pried open and the group gasped at the message that Adam had left.

The corpses of the other men who were transporting the package were lying in the trailer, and on the inside, "WE WILL SURVIVE", was written in their blood.

* * *

_Atlas – Underwood Home_

The afternoon just begun and Brick was still fully asleep. The one problem about his bed at home was that it was too comfortable. He never wanted to get out of it. His peaceful slumber was about to be interrupted. A knock on his door made him quickly sit up in his bed.

"What, who, huh?" He stammered.

The voice of his mother called out to him. "It's time to get out of bed, honey."

"Fiiine!" Brick groaned as he slowly got out of bed and stretched. He exited his room and slowly made his way to the bathroom. After sleeping in his bed, the only thing that could help him properly wake up was a nice warm shower. He openly the door and turned on the water. He stripped down while he waited for the water to reach the right temperature.

Once the water was the way he liked it, he got in and let the relaxing feeling of the hot water wake him up. He could slowly feel the air in the room becoming hotter, which reminded him of how Weiss would freak out at Brick for steaming up the bathroom. _"I really hope they aren't worried about me. Maybe I should call them later and let them know where I am." _He thought.

After Brick felt he had been properly awakened and had cleaned himself, he shut off the water, got out of the shower, and immediately turned on the bathroom fan. He dried himself off and brushed his hair and teeth. He wrapped a towel around his waist and exited the bathroom to go get dressed.

Right after Brick exited the bathroom and turned to walk to his room, he was face to face with a very red faced Shayna. "Good morning." Brick said casually. Shayna just stared. She was completely mesmerized by her brother's well-toned muscles. "Remnant to Shayna? I said good morning." Brick said trying to get her attention, but she just continued to stare. "Shayna? You okay?"

"Hot." She muttered.

"Huh?" Exclaimed Brick. Shayna quickly snapped back into reality once she realized that she had thought out loud.

"Uhhh….it's hot because of the steam! Yes that's it! The steam!" She said, trying to sound convincing.

"I don't buy it." Brick said plainly.

"No, that's what I was talking about."

"Oh really? Well then explain to me why the steam is causing you to blush."

Shayna opened her mouth to respond but she realized that she didn't have anything. "Uhhh…." was all she managed to say.

"So are you gonna tell me why you're blushing or not?" He asked. Shayna was once again distracted by Brick's physique. "Look, Shayna. I gotta go get dressed." A part of Shayna wanted to tell him not to. But she ended up nodding as he pushed his way past her.

"_That was really weird. I wonder what her deal is." _Brick thought as he was getting dressed. Once he got into his usual attire, he looked around his room for his scroll. _"Damn. Where did I put the damn thing?"_ As he continued to search, there was a knock on his door. "Come in." He called out. Shayna slowly opened the door and entered the room.

"Oh hey. You wanna explain what just happened with you out there?" Brick asked.

Shayna sighed. "Have you ever had feelings for someone that you know you can't be with?"

"This whole thing was about some guy?" Brick said astonished.

"He's not just some guy." Shayna started. She sat down on Brick's bed. "This guy is amazing. He is funny, smart, and kind. He looks out for his friends and cares about his family. He doesn't take shit from anyone. When you're sad, he knows just how to make you feel better. But most importantly, he cares about me. And despite all of this, because of one small detail, I can never be with him."

Being her brother, Brick had known Shayna for her entire life and with all the time they spent hanging out together, he could even say he knew her better than anyone else in the world. Never once in the time that Brick knew her, did she ever have feelings like this about anyone.

"What could be so bad that after all those great you said about him, is preventing you from trying to be with him?" Brick questioned.

Shayna took a deep breath. "He's my brother."

Silence.

At first, Brick could barely process what she just said but when he finally did, his mind was racing. _"Oh my god! She just confessed that she loved me! Wait! She could be talking Byrne. Nope. Can't be him. She said the guy was funny and everyone who knows Byrne knows that he has no sense of humor. So that means….oh god! What do I do? What do I say?"_

"Umm…" Brick stammered.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you."

"Wait. So back in the hall, you were calling me hot?" Brick asked.

"REALLY! That's what you pulled out of this!?" Shayna shouted. Tears started to form in her eyes.

"When did this even start?" Brick asked as he sat down next to his sister.

"When Byrne started working, we all really missed him. You know just as well as I do how much I wanted to see my big brother. But Byrne always came home after I went to bed, and left before I could wake up. I felt like he was trying to avoid us." Shayna sniffled and rubbed a few tears out of her eyes.

"We had already lost dad so losing Byrne was too much for me. I was depressed. But then you noticed. At first I thought that it would only end badly, but instead of telling mom or yelling at me, you gave me a shoulder to cry on. From that, we became closer and closer. Throughout all of the time we spent together, I was slowly developing a crush on you."

Brick was at a loss for words. The worst part about the whole thing was that Shayna was right. She couldn't be with the guy she loved. At this moment, Brick felt scared, which scared Brick even more. Brick never felt himself experience this kind of fear before. But he wasn't scared for himself. He was scared for his sister. How could he look her in the eye and tell her that the guy she loves doesn't love her in that way.

"I see." Brick began. "Has mom ever told you the story of how she met dad?" Shayna shook her head. "It was twenty two years ago. Mom was going on a double date with Aunt Cynthia, her twin."

"You mean the one that went missing?"

"Yes, that one. So, as I was saying, they were going on a double date. Mom's date was some guy that she was going to university with at the time and Cynthia's date was dad. The date went by without much trouble, until the end. When the date was done, mom and Cynthia brought theirs dates back to their shared dorm room. One thing lead to another and all four of them end up getting pretty wasted."

Shayna giggled. "Mom got wasted? No way."

"Yes way. And if you tell her that I told you that then I will kill you before she gets the chance to kill me."

Shayna laughed again. "Anyways, at some point, things began to heat up. Either they were really drunk or mom just left out the details, none of them remember what happened that night. But what she does remember was waking up lying next to dad, and not her actual date. At some point the previous night, since the two girls were identical twins, there was some sort of mix up. Mom and her sister concluded that maybe this was what meant to happen, so they rolled with it. In the end, mom and dad ended up married and Cynthia is still missing."

"This is a nice story, but why did you tell it to me?" Shayna questioned.

Brick grinned. "Going into that date, mom thought she would end up hooking up with the guy she was going out with. I told you this to help you realize that while you think you have a crush on me, you may just haven't met the right guy yet."

"I've met plenty of nice guys and none of them even compare to you."

"I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but have you actually been on a date before? Or have you even asked out a guy."

"Why would I need to when I love you?"

"Because maybe, if you give one of those nice guys a chance, you might find them to be even better than me."

Shayna pondered what Brick was saying.

"You think you have these feelings for me, but that's because I'm the only guy that you're close with."

"I guess you're right. But what if the guy I ask out ends up being a jerk?"

Brick chuckled. "You tell them how I like to play with fire." The two siblings laughed together.

"So are we cool?" Brick asked.

"Yeah. We're cool. I love you Brick. This time, as a bro." Shayna said. She raised her fist and Brick gave her props.

"By the way, I wasn't kidding about mom killing me. She will do it." Brick exclaimed. Shayna laughed again. "Speaking of killing, how about you and I play a few rounds of Halo?"

"You are so on! And this time, I'm gonna win."

"In your dreams!"

The two siblings played until 4. "I just realized that I haven't eaten anything yet today." Brick said "I'm gonna go get a snack. You want something?" He offered to Shayna. She declined and Brick went downstairs to the kitchen.

When he entered the kitchen, he went over to the pantry and grabbed a bag of chips. As he made his way back to the stairs, he heard a buzzing sound coming from the kitchen. He walked back into the kitchen and found his scroll vibrating on the counter. "So that's where that was." Brick picked up his scroll and saw that he had a few missed calls and one incoming call, all from Yang. He picked up the call and saw a very frustrated expression on Yang's face.

"Hey Yang. What's up?"

"Don't you 'what's up' me! Where the hell are you?" She shouted.

"Geez. No need to shout. I just went home for a few days since classes are cancelled."

"And you chose not to tell us because….?"

"I didn't think it was important. I told Ozpin to tell you not to worry about me."

"Don't pin this on someone else!"

Brick heard some voices in the background. "Yeah, I finally got a hold of him." Yang said.

Ruby and Blake appeared on the screen on either side of Yang. "Where the hell did you go?" The two girls asked furiously.

"He went home for a few days." Yang explained.

"Then why didn't he tell us?" Blake and Ruby asked.

"Apparently Ozpin was supposed to tell us not to worry."

"Look! I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'll be coming back tomorrow night anyway so no need to get all worked up."

"Alright. See you tomorrow." Said Yang with an annoyed tone before walking out of view.

Just then, Brick could hear the door slam open on the other end of the call. "RUBY! We aren't done studying yet so get over here now!" Weiss shouted.

"I gotta go! Talk to you later." Ruby said before disappearing and leaving a flurry of rose petals in her place.

It was now just Brick and Blake. Brick noticed that Blake's arm was in a sling. "How are you feeling?" Brick asked.

"Oh you mean with this?" Blake said as she pointed at her shoulder. "It's healing up well."

"That's good."

"Yup." Blake said. "You know…I never got the chance to properly thank you. How about I take you out to dinner? Maybe tomorrow when you come back, we can meet and then go to a restaurant."

"Sure. That's sounds nice. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

Blake hung up the call. Yang, who had gone to the bathroom, reentered the room. Blake handed her back her scroll. "So what did Brick have to say?" Yang asked.

"Brick and I, now have dinner plans. I'm gonna meet him tomorrow when he comes back."

"Oh." Yang said. "Sounds nice."

"I know right. I think I'm gonna go check that Weiss hasn't murdered Ruby yet. I'll be back in a bit."

"See ya." Yang said. Blake exited the room. Yang climbed up onto her bed and stared at her scroll. _"Why do I feel upset?"_ She thought. _"Blake's my partner. I should be happy for her. But why then, am I not?"_ Yang pressed a button on her scroll and opened a picture of the team. The picture was a selfie she took. Ruby was sticking her tongue out while Weiss was giving her a look of disapproval. Blake was smiling. Brick and Yang each had one arm on each other's shoulders while Yang's other arm was taking the picture.

Yang let out a sigh. _"Am I falling for Brick?"_

**_Please pm or leave a review with your feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter._**


	6. Chapter 6: Dinner or Date?

**So, big news. This story just surpassed 1000 views. That's a nice milestone for this story. I would like to personally give a shout out to dubstepkitty24. Without you, this story wouldn't even exist. Thank you for all your help in writing this. I would also like to give a shout out to all the people who reviewed, followed and favourited the story and a shout out to all of the people who brought me to 1000 views. So now, without further ado, please enjoy**

**Chapter 6**

**Dinner or Date?**

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm_

Ruby scanned her scroll and opened the door to the dorm. She entered, followed by Weiss, and climbed up onto her bed. Yang was sitting on her bed playing a game on her scroll. "Hey guys." Yang said, not bothering to look up from her game. "Die bitch! You want some of this?" She shouted at her scroll.

Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and started to polish it. A buzzing sound emanated throughout the room. "It's yours Weiss. It's been buzzing on and off since you two went to go study." Yang said, still not looking up from her game.

Weiss grabbed the scroll off of her desk. She saw that she had many missed calls, all from her father. She answered the call and the worried face of Mr. Schnee appeared on the screen.

"Hi daddy. How are you doing?" Asked Weiss happily.

"We don't have time for this right now, Weiss. Are you alone?" He asked frantically.

"No, I'm in my dorm with my team. Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"Go outside into the hall. Make sure you're alone." He insisted.

"Why can't my teammates hear? What's going on?"

"Now isn't the time to argue!" He shouted. "Please just do as I ask. I'll explain soon."

"As you wish." Weiss agreed. "I'm just going out into the hall if you need me." She informed her teammates.

"K. Have fun." Yang said absent mindedly. "Headshot mother fucker!" She shouted into her scroll.

Weiss exited the room and Ruby turned her gaze to Yang. "I wonder what that's all about." Said Ruby.

"I'm sure it's nothing major." Yang said as she furiously slammed down on buttons.

"How do you know? It has to be something important if we can't know."

"It's probably just some family business thing. You should just let it go." Yang insisted.

"Speaking of letting things go, you have been kind of hostile since Blake hung up with Brick yesterday. What's up with that?" Ruby pried.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Yang said.

"You're swearing at your games. You only do that when you're upset about something."

"I swear at my games all the time. I'm not upset. Can't you just mind your own damn business?" Yang shouted.

A smirk appeared on Ruby's face. She led Yang right into her trap. "I guess you're right about the swearing thing, but I know that you never talk to me like that unless you're upset."

The shooting sounds coming from Yang's scroll came to a stop with the push of a button. Yang finally made eye contact with Ruby. "Fiiine. You win. I'm upset."

Ruby's smirk grew into a grin. "There, was that so hard? So why are you upset?"

Yang sat up and turned towards Ruby. "You know Blake is going out to dinner with Brick?" Yang asked. Ruby nodded. "Well that why I'm upset."

"Why would that upset you? Unless…" Ruby gasped. "Yang, do you like Brick? I mean do you 'like, like' him?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure yet. But I do know that I don't want this date to happen." Yang said.

"Now wait a minute. Did you ever hear Blake use the word date?"

"No. But it still pretty much is a date."

"You don't know that. And with that attitude, you'll have no chance with a guy like Brick. And if this is a date, there's always the chance it ends badly."

Yang sighed. "I guess so." Yang lied down again and rolled over to face the wall.

"_I've never seen Yang behave like this before."_ Ruby thought. _ "I've seen her with quite a few guys, even a few girls, and never has she behaved like this. Maybe she actually does like him. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself. They aren't even together. It could just be a passing thing."_

"Oh yeah. I just realized, where is Blake?" Ruby asked.

"She is already on her way to meet up with Brick."

A beep came from the door and Weiss entered the room. She looked pale, well paler than usual, and shaken up. "So what was that about Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"N-nothing. It's just…" Weiss tried saying before beginning to stare off into space.

"It's just what?" Asked Ruby.

"Um…uh" Weiss stammered as she snapped back into reality. "It's just heiress things. Don't worry about it."

* * *

_Vale – Airship Departure _

When the airship touched down, Blake messaged Brick on her scroll to let him know. She made her way out to the street to find Brick leaning against a wall of building with a black motorcycle parked on the sidewalk (If you want to know what the bike looks like, just look up a picture of the Pegassi Bati 801 from GTA V). Brick was wearing his typical attire, including his helmet, and had a second helmet under his arm. Blake approached him, and Brick removed his shades.

"You realize that you're the sketchiest looking person in all of Vale right now." Blake said.

"I had to make sure you could find me." Brick said. "I know about this nice little diner that's close by and the food is pretty good."

"Sounds good." Blake said. Brick handed her the helmet and mounted the bike.

"Hop on." He said while gesturing to come closer with his hand. "I hope you like fast."

Blake put on her helmet and climbed onto the spot behind Brick. She wrapped her arms around his waist, blushing a little bit as Brick looked back at her with a grin. "Hold on tight."

Before she could respond, Brick revved up the engine and the bike took off. It took about three seconds before Blake became terrified. She screamed and Brick laughed and cheered. Thankfully, the streets were pretty empty that night so Brick had a lot of room to go fast.

Fortunately for Blake, they arrived at the diner before she could pee her pants. "Please tell me that our trip back will be less hectic." Blake said with a terrified tone.

"That depends. Are you afraid of heights?" Brick asked.

"Only if we go that fast." Blake said. After a little more bickering, Brick finally agreed to go slower for the ride back.

"Come on. We should go inside." Brick said as he walked towards the door to the diner. They entered the diner and waited until a waiter brought them to a table for two. Once they were seated, the waiter spoke up.

"Hello. My name John and I'll be your server tonight. To start, can I get you two anything to drink?"

They both ordered water and the server left them with their menus. After about 30 seconds of scanning, Brick decided to initiate the conversation. "So what do you think you're gonna get?" He asked.

"Probably the salmon. It sounds good. What about you?"

"Bacon Cheeseburger. One of my favorites."

"Ah. So how was your visit with your family?"

"Really, really weird. And before you ask, you don't wanna know."

"That weird, huh?" Blake asked. Brick nodded his head. "You sure you don't wanna tell me?" Blake said slyly.

"Let's just say that my sister's boy troubles involved me more than I thought possible."

"Oh. Is that the sister that goes to Signal?"

"Yeah, why?" Brick questioned. He picked up his water and took a drink.

"Because that mean I'll get to meet her soon."

Brick almost choked on his water. When he finally caught his breath, he spoke up. "I'm sorry. What?"

"You didn't get the email?" Blake asked.

"I haven't gotten any messages since Yang called." Brick explained.

Blake pulled out her scroll and opened up an email. It outlined the details of an upcoming field trip that Signal was going on. The second year students would be coming to Beacon. One of the first year teams would be chosen to show them around the school. At the end of the tour, the Signal students would sit in on a sparring class in which one of the Signal students will get a chance to face off against a Beacon student of their choosing.

"Why didn't I get this?" Brick asked as he checked his scroll to see if he missed it. Blake just shrugged.

"Well this sucks."

"Why does this suck? I've always wanted to meet one of your sisters."

"Yeah, but I don't want you guys to meet her. She's kinda weird."

"Does this have to do with your trip home?" Blake asked.

"Do you really wanna know what happened?"

"Yes!"

Brick sighed. "My sister, Shayna saw me come out of the bathroom, and to make a long and weird story short, she admitted to having a crush on me." Now it was Blake's turn to choke on her drink.

"Whoa. What?" Blake asked. Brick just nodded his head. "That is weird! Did you resolve it?"

"Yes. I told her an old story to help teach her a life lesson and then we played video games."

The waiter finally returned. "Are you two ready to order now?" Asked John.

"I believe we are." Said Brick. The two friends ordered their dinners, thanked the waiter, and the waiter left.

"I gotta go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." Brick said as he stood up and made his way to the back of the diner.

"_I remember when my life was that weird." _Blake thought. _"But I left those times behind when I disconnected that train car."_

"Hello Blake." Said someone from behind her. Blake looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened.

"What do you want?" She asked angrily.

"What makes you think I want something? Can't I just visit an old friend?" Asked Adam as he sat down across from her. Blake just tilted her head and gave Adam a look. "Fine, you got me. I need help on a job and with your position, you're the best person to help me out."

"No way. When I cut off that train car, I severed all my ties to the White Fang and to you. I'm done. Go bother someone else."

"Come on Blake. With what's coming, you'll want to be on our side."

"I said no. Goodbye Adam." Blake said.

Adam stood up and growled. As he walked passed Blake, he stopped for a second. "You'll regret this Blake. There's a storm coming, and you just put yourself right in its path." He then continued to walk out of the diner. Just as the door closed behind him, Brick sat back down in front of Blake. He saw a look of concern on her face.

"What happened? Did you miss me?" He joked.

"No." She replied with a smirk. "I just ran into an old friend."

"Oh. Our food still isn't here yet?" Brick asked. Blake just shook her head. As if on cue, John the waiter came by holding two dishes. He gave each person their appropriate meals and the two friends enjoyed. They engaged in the occasional small talk but mostly just ate in silence, giving each other the occasional small smile.

Once their meal was done. Brick got the bill and they exited the diner. "You were right about that place. The food was great."

"I told you. So you ready to go back?" Brick asked. Blake nodded. "Since I don't think the next airship will be coming for another while, we will just have to take our own ride up. Brick pushed a button on his bike. Two small thrusters appeared on the bottom of the bike which lifted it up into the air. Now that it was elevated, the wheels turned until they were facing down. They began turning at an extremely fast rate and the thrusters angled themselves backwards. The bike was now floating.

"Cool huh?" Brick asked with a huge smile on his. He mounted the bike which bobbed up and down a little bit as it adjusted to his waist.

"Yeah. It's pretty cool but can it hold the both of us?" She asked.

"Of course it can. Just hold on tight. Oh and don't worry. It doesn't fly as fast as it drives."

"Thank god." Blake said with relief. Brick put on his helmet and handed the other to Blake. She put it on and then got on the bike. Once she wrapped her arms around Brick's waist, he revved up the engine but this time, instead of going forward they started rising. Once they were at a reasonable altitude, Brick pushed a pedal and the bike began to fly forward.

At first Blake was worried about falling but they weren't flying that fast so eventually she put her worries to rest. She took this opportunity to gaze out at the city from above. Seeing all the lights at night was just beautiful. "Pretty sick view if you ask me." Brick commented. Blake leaned forward and rested her head on Brick's shoulder.

"It is." She said. She rested her head on his shoulder for the rest of the quiet ride.

* * *

_Roman's Warehouse_

Men were scampering around the large room with the container while Roman oversaw the work. The sound of high heels echoed through the room as Cinder approached him. "How are things doing?" She asked.

"Things are doing fine." Just then, Adam also entered. When he was close enough, Roman called out. "How did it go?"

"Not well. She didn't go for it. We're gonna need another man on the inside."

"Well," Cinder started. "There is always DeathGrip." She suggested.

"I don't think he'll want in on this. Plus do we want him in on this?" Roman asked. "Last he worked for me, he wasn't happy."

"Yes we want him in on this. He has been a useful ally for me in the past and he will not disappoint. When you go talk to him, just mention my name and he'll be all over it." She said. She then turned to face Adam. "As for you Adam. I need you to make contact with the other one. He will also be very eager to help us. Just hide the horns. He won't take too kindly to you if he sees them."

"Got it." Adam said. He then left again.

"He never stays around long, does he?" Asked Cinder.

"Look Cinder." Roman started. "There is something else that needs to be addressed. As surprising as this may sound, I, yes me, took a look into the numbers. According to what I'm seeing, this operation will run us dry."

"It won't matter. If we pull this off, we will never have to worry about anything ever again." She said slyly.

"I know, but on the off chance that something goes wrong, we need to have a back-up plan. But in order to prepare that, I'm gonna need to devote some of our resources towards pulling that off. I just need to make a few good scores and then we'll be good to go."

"How long do you think this will take?" She asked.

"Two months." Roman said with a sigh.

"Two months!?" Cinder shouted. "We can't afford to waste that much time."

"It won't be that bad and if something goes wrong, we need to have something to fall back on. If we ever wanted to start up something else or take a second chance then we need to have something to fall back on. You may not like it, but I'm doing this for our own good. I'm doing this for us."

Roman walked over to her and hugged her. Cinder returned the gesture by wrapping her arms around his waist. "Fine." She agreed. "Do what you need to do."

"You won't regret this." Roman said as he let go of Cinder.

"Locate DeathGrip when you get the chance. Make contact and recruit him."

"You got it." And with that, he walked out, leaving Cinder to her own thoughts.

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm_

Brick and Blake were just outside. "Tonight was nice." Blake said.

"I agree. Thanks for taking me out."

"The pleasure was all mine."

The two stared into each other's eyes. Just then, the door opened to reveal Yang. "Hey guys. How was dinner?"

"Oh uh…it was good." Said Brick.

"That's good. Welcome back, Brick." Said Yang.

"Thanks."

Yang walked over and climbed up into her bed as Brick and Blake entered the dorm. Each went to their respective beds but just as Brick climbed up. "Actually Brick, is it okay if I have the bed to myself for tonight?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, of course. It is your bed. But is something wrong?" He asked.

"I'm fine."

"Alright then. Good night Yang."

"Good night."

Brick dragged a desk chair into the corner and got comfortable. Before long, he was snoozing away the day. Yang sat up in her bed and looked at him. _"Ruby's right. I should stop worrying. If it works out, then it works out."_

**Please pm or leave review if you have any feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7: DeathGrip

**Chapter 7**

**DeathGrip**

A man about the age of 22 was walking the streets of downtown Vale. His long navy blue hair was in a ponytail. Around his neck was a green bandana which he had pulled up over his mouth. His shirt was brown with blue shoulders and a picture of a blue and red gear under the left shoulder. He wore brown khaki pants and brown combat boots. On his right hand he wore a blue wrist band. On his left hand and fore arm, he wore a large navy blue metal gauntlet with silver coloured lines of steel wrapping around it.

He was downtown looking for work. Every day, he would go downtown and visit local bars or bounty hunter stations in order to get work. But so far, he had no such luck. The man sat down on a bench to relax. He would always have to go out looking for work, but today, work came looking for him, and it came in the form of Roman Torchwick.

Roman sat down next to him on the bench. "For someone always looking for work, you were not easy to find." He said without facing the other man.

"Maybe I'm trying to avoid people like you."

"Well people like me have work to offer and I know that people like you are looking for it."

"Why would I work for you after what you did?"

"Tough choices have to be made sometimes." Roman said grimly.

"You were just trying to save your own ass. I'm just lucky I escaped with my life."

"Come on, DeathGrip. Don't be so dramatic." Roman exclaimed.

"It's all I've got. Since that incident, I've been barely scraping by. That was supposed to be my big break."

"It was supposed to be mine as well. But sometimes things happen."

DeathGrip sighed. "What do you want Roman?"

"I have been sent to enlist your services. If you agree, we will let you in on the reward."

"You've been sent?" DeathGrip asked. "Since when do you take orders from anyone?"

"Things change. We have to adapt to new situations, otherwise the world we live in will kill us."

"And when did you become so wise?"

"I didn't. I just have a great way with words."

"If that was true, you would have already convinced me to join your little operation."

"I wouldn't say that it's a little operation."

"Doesn't make a difference. Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

Roman stood up and began walk away. "Suit yourself. Cinder will be disappointed to hear that you said no."

DeathGrip's eyes widened. He stood up and grabbed Roman's shoulder to turn him around. "I assume you've changed you mind?"

"Wanna tell me why Cinder wants me?"

"That depends. You in?"

DeathGrip thought this over for a minute. He was trying to decide if learning Cinder's true motives were worth getting wrapped up with Torchwick. But eventually, he came to a decision. "So what's this operation?"

"I was worried you would never ask." Roman said as he walked beside DeathGrip. He put one arm around DeathGrip's shoulder and the other extended towards the sky. "Tell me. What would you say if I told you that the key to eternal life was within our grasp?"

"Project Survivor?" Asked DeathGrip.

Roman nodded. "It's as real as you and me. And now it's ours. We are just missing one key component to unlocking it."

"Well then. Shall we get going?"

The two began to walk. "You still haven't answered my question." Said DeathGrip.

Roman chuckled. "The truth is I don't know. We could gotten anyone for the op. I guess you'll just have to ask Cinder." After a several more steps. "You gotta tell me how you manage to always do it?" Said Roman.

"What do you mean?" Asked DeathGrip.

"How do you manage to never get caught and keep your face hidden?"

DeathGrip chuckled as he readjusted he bandana. "It's all in the act, Roman. It's all in the act."

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Sparring Class_

Yang and the rest of her team sat and watched as Jaune was getting his ass handed to him by Cardin. While most of team RWBY was had looks of pity on their faces directed at Jaune, Yang wasn't really paying attention. Her mind was filled with thoughts of Brick. _"What should I do?" _She thought. _"If he likes Blake then I don't want to ruin that. I want them to be happy. And what if that ruins my friendships with them. If I don't say anything, then none of that could happen. But I need to know. I need to know if he would like me back."_

Yang was brought back into reality by the sound of Jaune giving off a loud battle cry as he charged towards Cardin. He easily dodged Jaune's attack and quickly finished the match. Goodwitch gave a short speech to the class about checking the aura bar on our scrolls during combat and then the class was dismissed.

The team went to the cafeteria for lunch. The two teams ate mostly in silence, with the exception of Blake and Weiss who weren't actually eating. Blake was reading a book while Weiss was busy filing her nails. As Weiss continued to mold her nails to the perfect length, she was thinking about the different tactics Jaune could have used to win that fight.

Weiss's thoughts eventually trailed back to what her father had told her the other day. Weiss didn't actually know too much about the thing that her father told her about, but she had never seen her father so filled with fear in her entire life. But not knowing what it was, made her want to know even more. _"What could have been in that crate? Why was it important enough for my father to tell me about it, but to also hide it from the media? As far as I know, we only transport dust in those crates, and we've lost a lot of those to the White Fang."_

Blake who was reading her book, was filled with thoughts about Adam. _"Why on Earth would he come for my help? A person like Adam doesn't look for a person like me after what I just did unless he wanted them dead. So then why did he ask for my help? It doesn't make sense."_

Ruby looked at her teammates and saw them all in deep thought. _"Why is everyone being so weird? This all started with that date and that phone call. I need to know what happened. Weiss will be difficult to crack, Blake doesn't really share and I know what's wrong with Yang. How can I help my teammates if I don't know what's wrong?"_

Pyrrha gazed at the RWBY girls sitting across the table from her. "Are you guys okay?"

The four girls snapped back into reality. "Don't worry about it." They all said at the same time.

"Alright then. So Jaune, wanna talk about why you let Cardin push you around?" Pyrrha asked.

"He's not pushing me around. It's just rough housing. You know, boys just being boys."

"Oh yeah? Well then, how about the time when he…" Pyrrha listed off just a few off the things Cardin had done to bully Jaune.

"I didn't fall that far from the school. Besides, he's not just a jerk to me. He's like this to everyone."

Outside the window, Adam stood and gazed into the cafeteria. His gaze was focused mostly on Cardin, who was busy pulling on Velvet's ear and laughing. A part of Adam wanted to shoot Cardin, but he knew that Cinder wanted him on their side, so he would let Cardin keep his head. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "This is Taurus…You were right, he is definitely the one we want."

* * *

_That Night – Beacon Academy – Library _

"Why again are we doing this?" Asked Ruby.

"Because we have a History test coming up," Weiss said. "And as the leader of this team, you need to be able to keep your grades up. How do you expect to support your teammates if you can't take care of yourself? Now read!" Weiss commanded as she passed Ruby a textbook.

"Ugh. But Weiss, this is sooo boring!" Ruby whined.

"Well not everything in life will be fun. The sooner you learn that, the better."

"I'll study more on one condition. You tell me what your dad told you the other day."

Weiss froze. "I-I already told you. It was just heiress stuff. None of your concern."

"It didn't look like just heiress stuff to me. You looked like some had died."

"Ruby, please let it go."

"No. I won't be able to take care of myself if I know that my teammate is worried about something."

Weiss sighed. "What I'm about to tell you will make you a part of something that could end with people dying, so are you sure you want to hear it?" She asked.

Ruby nodded her head and Weiss sighed again. "Alright. My dad told me that the White Fang had stolen a crate that was being transferred to the Fridge. Before you ask, the Fridge is the Schnee Dust Company's most secure storage facility. We only put the most dangerous things inside that place."

"So what exactly was stolen?" Asked Ruby.

"My dad didn't tell me. All he told me was that this wasn't the first time the White Fang tried to steal this crate and that the last time they did, people died."

"Oh my god. So why did he tell you?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe he just felt I should know. As heiress of the company, if something important was stolen, I am told about it. But never have I been given this vague of a report, and never has the report come straight from my father."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Until I know more, I probably won't do anything. Are you happy know?"

"Not really." Ruby admitted.

"And that's why I didn't want to tell you." Weiss explained. "Now get studying. And don't tell anyone else about this."

Ruby nodded and then began to read.

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm_

Blake was lying down on her bed, reading the same book that she always read. The door beeped and Yang came in wearing an orange tank top and white gym shorts. She had a towel around her neck and she was dripping with sweat.

"Man, Brick can put up a good fight." Yang exclaimed.

Blake giggled. "So I'm assuming that you had a good workout. Where's Brick?"

"He's is still going. He got challenged by Pyrrha after we finished going at it."

"Thanks."

"Actually…" Yang started. She wiped off her face with the towel and sat down in the desk chair. She turned herself to face Blake. "I wanted to talk to you about him."

"Alright. What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Did anything happen when you guys went out for dinner?"

Blake got nervous. _"Does she know about Adam?"_ She thought. "Besides him scaring the shit out of me with his flying motorcycle, no, nothing happened."

"So nothing happened between you two?" Yang asked, just to be sure.

"_So this isn't about Adam." _She thought. "Why would anything have happened between us? We just went out for dinner. It wasn't a date or anything. I just wanted to thank him for helping me during the Nevermore attack. Why do you ask?"

"Oh-uh…you know me. I like to pry."

"Yeah, but when you do you're much more direct." Blake said. "What's this really about? Do you have a thing for Brick?"

"Now why on Remnant would you say that?"

Blake just gave Yang a look. Yang sighed. "There's no fooling you, is there? Yes. I like him."

Blake closed her book and sat up. "I want you to go shower, and then you and I are gonna talk about this."

"Since when do you care about other people love lives?" Yang questioned.

"Because you two would be so cute together. Now go shower. I don't want your sweat all over my bed when we talk."

Yang stuck her tongue out at Blake, who smirked in return. Yang made her way to the bathroom and shut the door. Just as the sound of running water began to echo through the room, Blake heard a knock on the door.

Blake opened it to reveal a very red-eyed Pyrrha. "You okay? I thought you were working out with Brick." Blake asked.

"I was, but I decided to leave early. Anyways, my leader is a complete tool and I can't afford to let the rest of my team see me like this. Can I hide out here for a little while?"

"Sure." Blake said as she moved out of the way to let Pyrrha into the room.

"It's just me and Yang here so you can stay as long as you need to."

Pyrrha sniffled. "Thanks."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Blake asked as she guided Pyrrha over to sit on her bed.

Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm sorry but I can't. All I can say is that Jaune fucked up big this time."

"Well, I was just about to have a conversation with Yang about her guy troubles. Maybe it will help you take your mind off of whatever is bothering you." Blake said. She stood up and went over to the mini fridge. She bent over and opened it up. "Want ice cream?" Blake offered.

"Sure. What flavours do you have?"

"Well Yang likes to hides all the good flavours so your choices are chocolate or vanilla."

"Surprise me." Pyrrha decided.

Blake pulled out the chocolate and two spoons. "No bowls?" Asked Pyrrha.

"We think of ourselves as a family so we don't mind. Also that way we don't have to worry about cleaning them."

"Nice. So how long have you had that fridge?"

"Early on, Brick and Yang agreed that it was something that we needed to have. So far, it has been one of the best decisions we've made all year."

"I see. So what's this about Yang's boy troubles?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, surprise, surprise, she has a crush on Brick."

"Took her long enough to realize. Does Brick have any idea about it?"

"Are you kidding?" Blake exclaimed. "Brick may be smart, but he kind of clueless when it comes to girls."

"Oh, I see. Does Weiss know about this new development yet?" Pyrrha asked.

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"Um-uh…" Pyrrha stammered.

"Okay, spill. What do you know?" Blake pried."

Pyrrha let out a sigh. "What if, hypothetically, Weiss also had a crush on Brick, and then she hypothetically found out about Yang's crush, what would happen between them? All of this still, hypothetical."

Blake gasped. "No way! Weiss likes Brick. This is too good!"

"Shhh! For all you know she could be right outside that door listening in on us." Pyrrha exclaimed.

"No need to worry. Weiss and Ruby are going to pull an all-nighter studying in the library. They won't be back here until tomorrow morning." Said Blake.

Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief. "Alright good. Thanks again for letting hide out here. Ren is still trying figure out the best way to explain to Nora why Jaune 'isn't home yet', and if they see me losing it then the whole team might fall apart."

"It's no problem. Besides, you seem to already be in a better mood." Blake pointed out. The sound of the water stopped. Thirty seconds later, Yang came out of the bathroom with only a very large towel to cover her body. Her hair was still damp.

"Oh, Hi Pyrrha. I thought you were working out with Brick. What are you doing here?"

"She's finished early and something happened between her and Jaune so she's hiding out here for a while." Blake explained. She then mouthed to Yang "Don't ask". "Anyways, we are going to be talking about you, miss. Don't think I forgot."

"Alright then. Let's talk."

* * *

_Roman's Warehouse_

Roman entered the warehouse to find DeathGrip leaning against a giant crate. "I hope that you find everything to suit your needs." Said Roman.

"So this is it?" DeathGrip asked as he knocked his gauntlet against the crate he was leaning on.

"Yup. In that crate lies the key to eternal life."

DeathGrip stood up straight and turned to look at the crate. "It doesn't look like much to me, just an ordinary Schnee transport crate."

"Oh yeah." Roman pulled out the key card and swiped it. The crate opened again and DeathGrip's eyes widened.

"This is it? This is the key to eternal life? You've got to be kidding me. How longs has it been like that?"

"About 8 years. But trust me, it's being perfectly preserved." Explained Roman.

The tapping of high heels once again echoed through the warehouse. "Do you think I would have something like this retrieved if it wasn't going to work?" Asked Cinder. The two men swiftly turned around. "DeathGrip…It's been too long."

"I agree. How have you been?"

"Fairly well. But if we pull this off, I'll be doing better than ever before."

"Great. Now care to explain why you had this guy," He pointed to Roman "drag me out to this place for ya?"

"Be polite now, he is your boss after all."

"Excuse me?" DeathGrip exclaimed.

"Yes. You heard me correct. Roman has insisted that we gather up supplies in order to have a fall back in the event something goes wrong. You are to assist him to the best of your capabilities. If you succeed, then you will be rewarded with being able to share with us what's in that crate. Am I clear?"

"Of course." DeathGrip said.

"I knew you be on board with me. I'll leave you two to sort out the details. Roman, please give me a call when everything is sorted out so I can provide you with what you need." She walked over to Roman and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later." She said before beginning to make her way out of the warehouse. She paused her walking. "Oh and DeathGrip, dear. Be a good boy and don't cause trouble for Roman." She resumed her walking. "Have fun, boys." She called out.

When she finally left, DeathGrip adjusted his focus to Roman. "You and her? Really?" He asked.

Roman chuckled. "She's may be a bad girl, but my heart still belongs with her." Roman said.

"Wow. How poetic of you." DeathGrip said while trying to stifle a laugh.

"Yes, and if you tell anyone I said that then I will deny it and kill you." Roman threatened.

DeathGrip chuckled and put one hand on Roman's shoulder. "No worries, man. Your secret is safe. Now then, shall we get started?"

**Please pm me or leave a review with your feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also if you feel so inclined, tell five friends about this story and tell them to tell five of their friends about this story. ;)**


	8. Chapter 8: Now or Never

**Chapter 8**

**Now or Never**

_Vale – Harbour_

Roman casually walked down the street with his men following behind and DeathGrip at his side. It was the middle of the day and there were many people walking around the streets as well. But despite most of them seeing the criminals walking the street, none of them had the courage to do anything. The criminals made their way over to the nearby Dust Til Dawn location.

Once standing outside the door, Roman and DeathGrip looked at each other. "Should I ring the bell or knock?" Asked DeathGrip. Roman chuckled. "Knock, of course." Roman answered. Under his scarf, DeathGrip was smiling.

Inside the shop, there was three people, two customers and the cashier. None of them expected what was about to go down. A loud thud echoed through the store. They all looked towards the entrance to find that the door was no longer attached to the wall. DeathGrip stood in its place with his gauntlet extended out in front of him, his hand balled up in a fist.

Roman and his four goons followed DeathGrip into the store. Two of the men pointed pistols at the two customers while Roman pointed his cane at the cashier. "Please don't hurt me! I have a family!" Pleaded the cashier. "Just take whatever you want and go."

"You know what, I think I'll take you up on that offer." Said Roman.

The two men with guns got the two customers and the cashier to sit in the corner. Once they were sitting on floor, DeathGrip stood watch over them. "As long as you don't do anything stupid, I promise I won't kill you."

The four goons were all gathering up as much dust of all varieties that they could. During the planning session, Roman determined that they would have only about five minutes to pull off the robbery and get away before the police showed up. That still gave them enough time to clear out the whole shop of all its merchandise.

Once the goons had collected all the dust, they began to make their escape. Roman walked over to where DeathGrip was standing. "We didn't do anything so will you let us go?" The cashier cried out.

"Well I did promise." Said DeathGrip.

The men walked away and exited the building. After reaching a decent distance away from the store, Roman turned around and pulled a red dust crystal out of his pocket. He tossed it towards the store and after it hit the ground, he took aim with his cane and shot it. The crystal exploded taking down the roof of the building. If any of those three survived, they were in a lot of pain.

"But I didn't." Said Roman.

Just then, a truck being driven by one of Torchwick's goons pulled up in front of them. They got in and the truck drove away. Roman and DeathGrip were sitting in the back alongside many containers of stolen dust. "That couldn't have gone better." Roman commented.

"I couldn't agree more. So is this the part where we lay low for a while?"

Roman laughed. "We have too much at stake to lay low right now. This is the part where we plan the next move. We need to check up with Cinder and see where we are at."

"You're gonna have to fill me in on the details later. I won't be joining you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. I have somewhere I need to be. Deal with it. Why are you so focused on a fall back plan when you all you need is to kidnap a teenage boy?"

"You haven't spent as much time as I have analyzing this plan. It is far from perfect, but then again, what plan isn't. There are too many things that could go wrong and if something does, without a fall back plan, we will have nothing to build up again from."

"You're doing all this for her, aren't you?"

Roman sighed. "It's moments like this that I hate you, but yes, you are correct. I'm doing all of this for her. Which reminds me, how do you even know her?"

"I guess you could say that we're family." Said DeathGrip.

"I don't recall her ever mentioning any family."

"It's because I'm one a few people who knows about her."

"Just who are you?" Roman questioned.

DeathGrip thought about his answer for a moment. "With the path that we are headed on, you'll find out soon enough."

"Does everything have to be a damn riddle with you?"

DeathGrip chuckled. "What's life without a little mystery?"

* * *

_Forever Fall Forest_

It had been a week since the night that Pyrrha had hid out in team RWBY's dorm room. Their sparring class was on a field trip to the Forever Fall Forest to collect sap samples for Professor Peach.

Since Jaune had been dragged off with team CRDL, Brick offered to help out team JNPR with collecting their sap. Brick's job went from collecting sap to making sure Nora wasn't eating it all. Despite Nora's small figure, Brick was the only one strong enough to hold her back. Team RWBY was having no problems with collecting their sap. Once they had all finished, Brick went back to hang out with his team.

"Didja have fun playing babysitter with Nora?" Yang joked.

Brick gave her a very unamused look. "You know what? You four should feel lucky that you didn't have to do it."

"What do you mean lucky? You volunteered!" Weiss remarked.

"Yeah well…shut up."

"Nice come back." Said Yang. "Well, we have our four jars. Where's yours?"

Brick just realized that he had completely forgot to get some for himself. "Oh…oops."

"Come on, let's go." Yang said before grabbing his arm in one hand, and a jar in the other. She dragged him off into the forest. Once far enough away, Brick took out one of his throwing knives and stabbed it into one of the trees. Red sap began to ooze out.

"I bet this stuff is really sweet." Brick commented.

Once the jar was filled, he brought it up to his nose and he took in a whiff. "It smells good. Smell this." He said as offered the jar to Yang. She grabbed it and inhaled the scent through her nose.

"Oh my. That smells amazing. Hmm, I wonder?" She said before putting a finger into the jar. She scooped up small amount and licked it off of her fingers. "This stuff is amazing! You should try this!" She exclaimed.

She handed the jar back to Brick and he took a small taste too. "I get why Nora wanted this stuff so badly. This is great!"

"Well, now that we have it, let's go back." Said Yang. They began to walk back at a slow pace. "Remind why we went this deep into the forest."

"I don't know!" Brick exclaimed. "You dragged me out here!"

"Oh yeah…"

They took a few more steps but then Yang stopped. "Hey Brick?"

"Yeah? What's up?" Brick asked.

"I need to tell you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

Yang took in a deep breath. "I-" Yang was cut off by a loud roar. The two ran back to where the rest of the students were gathered. The members of RWBY and JNPR (minus Jaune) were all looking around trying to find the source of the roar.

Out of the woods emerged Dove, Russell, and Sky in a big rush. Two of them ran by but Yang grabbed the third one by his collar. "What's going on?" She questioned.

"Big Ursa. It's got Cardin."

Yang dropped him and saw Pyrrha run past her in the direction that the screaming boys came from. Yang, Brick and Blake went to find Professor Goodwitch while Weiss and Ruby followed after Pyrrha.

"I hope they'll be okay." Yang said as they continued to run.

"They'll be fine." Brick reassured her.

After a moment of running, before they could even reach Goodwitch, a beep came from Brick's pocket. He pulled out his scroll and read the message out loud. It was from Ruby saying that everything was ok and that there was no need to tell Goodwitch about it.

"I wonder what happened." Brick said.

"Whatever it was, it's over now." Blake said.

Another beep noise was heard, this time from all of the student's scrolls. Goodwitch had just sent a broadcast message requesting everyone to gather up at the rendezvous point.

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm_

The team all entered the dorm. Weiss rushed her way into the bathroom in order to shower before Brick could steam up the bathroom.

"So today was fun." Brick said plainly.

"That's a way to put it." Said Yang who was climbing up to her bed. Brick climbed up and sat next to her.

"Before the whole thing with the Ursa happened, you were going to tell me something. What did you wanna say?" Brick asked.

"_I was only gonna tell you then because I had the courage to back there. But now, I don't think I can."_ Thought Yang. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't anything important."

Brick just shrugged. "Alright. If you say so."

For the next little while, the team just hung around, each taking their turn to shower when they had the chance. The talked to each other, studied, and did a bit of homework. At around 8:00, everyone's scroll began to beep. All five teammates took out their scrolls. Goodwitch had sent out another broadcast message, this time as a voice message.

Once they realized that they all got the same message, the team gathered in the middle of the room around one of their scrolls and played the message.

"Greetings. As you may or may not know, Signal Academy will be embarking on a field to our school in the near future. It is tradition to have a first year team be the ones to lead the trip. Therefore, tomorrow, we will be holding a completion to see which team will get the honour to represent our school. Good luck to you all and get a good night's rest, you will most certainly need it." The message ended.

"Well then." Brick said as he got up. "I'm gonna take her advice and hit the hay early." Brick climbed back up onto the bunk. He got under the covers, said good night to the team, and the sleep embrace him.

"I think I'm going to do the same." Said Weiss as she followed Brick's example. Ruby and Blake also quickly followed suit, leaving Yang as the only one awake. It was way too early for her to even think about falling asleep yet, so she went over to her desk and sat down. She pulled out her scroll and looked at the same picture that she had looked at before.

"I gotta tell him." She muttered to herself. "Before it's too late."

* * *

_Atlas – Underwood Home – Several Hours Later_

It was dark in the house. Brick's mother was peacefully sleeping, when she heard a rattling noise coming from downstairs. Most normal people would be terrified right now that a burglar was in their home, but Cherry (Pronounced Sherry) Underwood knew better. She got out of bed and went downstairs. When she got downstairs, it was pitch black, except for the light coming from the open fridge. The light revealed a silhouette in the darkness. The person was in the process of pouring themselves a glass of water.

Cherry walked over to a certain spot on the wall and felt around until she found the light switch. She flipped the lights on. The man in her kitchen wasn't startled. He barely even reacted. He just continued to put away the water.

"Are you sure that you should be in that outfit right now?" Cherry asked. "What if the girls wake up and see you?"

"If the noises had been enough to wake them up, they would already be down here." Said DeathGrip.

"Good point." Said Cherry. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He struggled to return the hug as his gauntlet was still equipped. "You need to visit more." Said Cherry.

"If you knew exactly what I was doing, you wouldn't be saying that." DeathGrip said.

"Don't be silly. Regardless of the trouble you're in, you're always welcome here."

"Thanks. But after all I've done, you shouldn't want me anywhere near this house."

Cherry finally released him from the hug. "So how have you been?" She asked.

"Busy." He responded. "Doing hard work."

"I should hope so. If you aren't doing hard work then I will come after you."

DeathGrip chuckled. "I'm glad to see you haven't changed." He lifted up his glass of water in one hand, pulled down his scarf with the other and took a sip. "How have you been?" He asked.

"Well taking care of the girls hasn't gotten any harder. You should see some of the stuff that Brooke has built. It's quite impressive and Shayna has been using Brooke's machines in class. They are quite the team."

"I'm glad to hear that they are doing well." DeathGrip looked over at the clock which read 4:37. "I need to get moving. I have somewhere I need to be. Sorry to cut my visit short." He said.

"Do what you have to do. Just don't get killed."

"If what I'm working on is successful, I won't ever need to worry about that again."

Cherry's eyes went wide. "You promised me that you would stay away from that project." She scolded.

"It wasn't my project. Cinder recruited me." He explained.

Cherry's eyes widened even more, but eventually she just nodded her head. "How is she, by the way?"

"She's good. Has a guy who cares about her. I mean, he's a complete ass, but I can see that they are truly in love with each other."

"Does the guy have ginger hair?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?" He asked.

"Because they have been close since before you were born."

"Hmm. Well on that note, I must be on my way."

"Take care of yourself." Said Cherry.

And with that, DeathGrip exited the house. Cherry sighed. "Be careful." She muttered to herself.

* * *

_Roman's Warehouse – One Hour Later_

DeathGrip entered and approached Roman and Cinder who were standing side by side. Adam was sitting in chair to left. "Nice job on today's score." Said Cinder. "Keep this up. At this rate, we will be set for the rest of our lives."

"I work to please."

Adam scoffed. "Can we cut the congratulatory bullshit and just get to business. You better not have woken me up this early just to chat."

"One would think that you would show some respect to the people granting you eternal life." Roman snapped.

"He's right Roman. We must get down to business." Cinder said. Adam flashed a small smirk at Roman who looked annoyed.

"So. Now that we are all here, we need to discuss our next score. Roman, show them what you found."

Roman pulled out a picture of a freighter with several large containers with the Schnee logo on them. "This freighter will be coming into Vale from Atlas in about three weeks. When it arrives, the plan is to steal as much of it as we possibly can. From the information I've gathered, each one of those crates is worth about $250,000 in dust so in reality, we only actually need to get away with one. However, since we have the resources for it, let's make the most of this."

"If it's coming in from Atlas, I have people there that could steal the whole ship." Said DeathGrip.

"We don't need the whole ship. Also, stealing the whole thing would draw too much unwanted attention. It would be much easier to pull off the theft of a few Schnee crates than an entire Schnee ship." Explained Cinder.

"So, we go in with a few airships. Adam, we'll need you to get some men to help us load the dust onto the ships." Roman requested. Adam nodded. "The stuff that can't be taken out of the crates in time, we can just hook up to the airships and carry away."

"Sounds like a plan." Said DeathGrip.

"In the meantime, DeathGrip and I will pull off a few more store jobs until the time to strike arrives." Roman explained. "Adam, feel free to take some time off until we call you again. That is, after you provide us with the man power we need. Cinder will be coordinating with her other associates who can lend us a helping hand."

"What about the kid?" Asked Adam.

"Leave him be for now." Said Cinder. "When the time comes, we will deal with him."

"And what about Project Survivor? Are we just going to leave it here? What if Schnee finds this place?" Questioned Adam.

Cinder chuckled. "According to anyone's documents this place doesn't even exist. So yes, we will be leaving it here. It is safe."

"Alright then." Said Roman. "So is everyone clear on what's going on?" He asked. Everyone confirmed. "Fantastic. Be on standby at all times in case something comes up."

The group began to disperse but DeathGrip followed after Roman. "Roman. We need to talk."

"I'm taken but thanks." He joked. "About what?"

"Adam." DeathGrip said, looking over his shoulder to check if he was there. "I don't trust that guy a single bit. Something about him is off."

"There's no need to worry. He's a lackey. He can't do anything to hurt us."

"I still don't trust him."

Roman grunted. "Suit yourself. I'll give you a call with the details for our next job."

"Talk to you then."

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm – 6:00 AM_

Brick felt his scroll vibrate which meant that his alarm was going off. He looked around and saw that Yang wasn't lying next to him. He sat up and looked around the room to find that Yang had fallen asleep at her desk. He chuckled to himself and got out of bed. He changed into a black tank top and red gym shorts for his workout.

Once he was changed, he went over to the sleeping Yang and put one hand on her shoulder. She shot up. "Who, wha-" She stammered.

"Good morning." Brick said.

"Oh hey?" She replied. She examined Brick's outfit. "You gonna work out?" She asked.

"Of course. I want to be warmed up for today's contest."

Yang stood up. "Then I guess I'll join you. Don't wait up for me. I'll meet you there."

Brick obliged and went down to the workout room. He was in the middle of beating the shit out of a training dummy when Yang came down. "Having fun?" She joked.

"You know, while you may joking, I actually am having fun."

"Alright, alright. No need to get all upset."

Brick slammed his fist, one last time before the training dummy lost its head. "So now that we're alone, wanna tell me that thing from yesterday?" Brick asked.

"I told you not to worry about it. What makes you think that it's any different now that we're alone?" Asked Yang.

"I figured since before when you were willing to tell me in the woods because we were alone. I mean, why else would you have dragged me so far out. As stupid as I may act sometimes, I'm not that stupid. So what did you wanna tell me?"

Yang was stunned. She felt backed into a corner. In her mind, it was now or never. And Yang would always regret it if she didn't even give it a try. She quickly closed the gap between Brick and herself, grabbed Brick's face, and planted her lips on his.

Brick's eyes went wide for the first few seconds, but he quickly melted into the kiss. It ended shortly after that. "So…" Brick said.

"Yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you."

"So what now?" Brick asked.

"Well maybe, we could have dinner? I mean like go out for dinner."

"Yeah, umm, sure! Great…that sounds great…I'm just gonna go back to punching stuff. You can still join me if you want to."

"Actually…I'm just gonna go."

"Alright…umm, well, see ya at breakfast."

"Bye." Yang proceeded to exit the workout room, but swiftly turned around, came back to Brick, and kissed him again. This time, Brick was more into it. Once it was over, the two just stared into each other's eyes. "So…umm, I'm actually gonna go now. See ya later." Said Yang before actually leaving. She looked back at Brick for a second, who waved goodbye to her, and she left.

Brick turned back to face the new training dummy in front of him. "I will never understand women."

**Please pm me or leave a review with your feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9: Contest

**So today's chapter will include my first ever attempts a writing a team battle. Personally, I think it went well but that's just me. So without further ado, please enjoy this action packed chapter.**

**Chapter 9**

**Contest**

_Beacon Academy – Arena _

"I know that all of you are aware of why we're here right now but I'm still required to tell you anyway." Goodwitch said with an annoyed tone. "So, today, you will all be competing against each other in order to decide who will have the honor of leading the Signal Academy field trip. Now you may be wondering why there is only four teams actually here." In truth, teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and Velvet's team, were the only teams present, despite there being a few other first year teams. "This is because you were only ones who actually received the message. You all a part of what we feel are our four best teams. Therefore, we felt that it should be one of your teams that guide the people that will be defending our future. The brackets are set up as follows."

Goodwitch gestured towards a large screen which had list of their team names. The names rearranged themselves to show that in the first round team RWBY would be against team CRDL and team JNPR would be against Velvets team. Since the arena was separated into two parts, both fights would happen at the same time. "Are there any questions before we begin?" Asked Goodwitch.

"Yeah! I got one." Cardin called out. "Can team RWBY please have one member sit out?"

"Excuse me Mr. Winchester but this is a team exercise."

"Yeah, I get that part. The part I don't get is why they get an unfair advantage by having five while we only have four."

Goodwitch contemplated this for a moment. "I am going to have to agree with Cardin. Team RWBY will be given five minutes to decide who will sit out or I will choose for them. Team CRDL can go set up while team RWBY decides. Your five minutes start now."

Team RWBY got into a huddle. "Before we begin, because she is team leader, can we all agree that Ruby doesn't sit out?" Weiss asked.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "So that just leaves the four of us." Brick said.

"I'll sit out." Yang said. "I already got my fair share of kicking Cardin's ass. You guys deserve a turn."

"Are you sure about this, Yang?" Asked Ruby. Yang just nodded.

"Alright then. Let's tell Goodwitch."

Ruby went over to tell Goodwitch while Weiss and Blake went onto the arena to set up. Brick walked with Yang over to the side. "You sure that you wanna sit this one out?" Brick asked.

"Yeah. You guys should have fun. Plus I wanna watch you fight."

"Yeah um, so are we like boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"I guess we are."

"Well then, maybe you should give me a good luck kiss."

They both giggled before they leaned towards each other and connected their lips for a second. Brick then ran back to the arena to set up. What he didn't know is that both Blake and Weiss saw that. They both had their mouths hanging open, Blake's out of joy and Weiss's out of shock.

Brick looked at the two of them. "Did you guys see that?"

"Yeah!" They said together. "When did this begin?" Asked Weiss.

"I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, let's just focus on the fight."

Ruby finally joined the rest of the team and set up her gear. The two teams got into formation and the arena began to rise up. "This match will be played with classic tournament styles rulings. If all the members of one team become incapacitated, the match will end. A fighter is considered incapacitated if their aura levels drop into the red or if they or their weapon is thrown out of the arena. May the best team win!"

Everyone drew their weapons.

Russell pulled out a large cleaver. Sky pulled out his crossbow. Dove pulled out a battle axe. Cardin pulled out his mace.

Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose. Weiss got into her stance with Myrtenaster. Blake put one hand on Gambol Shroud's handle. Brick unsheathed both his Dyrnwyn swords.

"Let the match, BEGIN!"

Ruby swung Crescent Rose behind her and fired off a shot, propelling her towards the opposing team. She targeted Dove with a swing. He put up his battle axe in defense but was still staggered by Ruby's strike. He almost fell back but was caught by Sky. The two were in a very bad position as Weiss, who was following from behind Ruby, used a glyph to leap up high into the air. Another glyph formed midair to catch Weiss. She readied her sword and the barrel spun until the light blue compartment was glowing. She propelled of the glyph and stabbed her sword into the ground next to Dove and Sky. A crackling noise could be heard as ice fully formed around the two opponents. Ruby propelled herself into the air with Crescent Rose and Weiss formed a glyph to hold her up. Weiss rotated the glyph to aim at the chunk of ice. Ruby looked at Weiss and nodded, signaling her to release the glyph. Weiss released and Ruby propelled forward. She took a strong swing at the ice chunk. The force from the strike was enough to make it slide off the arena. It fell and shattered upon impact with the ground. Sky and Dove were eliminated.

Meanwhile, Russell and Blake were cleaver to cleaver, each blocking the others attack with great precision. Brick and Cardin were clashing. They were a very equal match when it came to strength but Brick was faster. He was able to get in quite a few good strike on Cardin when Brick could catch him of guard. However, Cardin's armour prevented the hits from affecting him very much. Brick tried to find a chink in the armour, but he was unsuccessful. Eventually Cardin managed to deflect Brick's attack. He used the window to knock Brick onto the ground.

Blake and Russell were making very little progress in their fight, so Blake decided it was time to change her style. She pulled out the katana part of Gambol Shroud and folded it down into just its pistol form. She threw the cleaver part to the side and threw the pistol at Russell. He ducked under and chuckled, but Blake smirked back. She pulled back on her ribbon and the pistol flew back at a high speed. The bladed part slashed Russell's back. Blake continued with an onslaught of pistol swipe, each one hitting Russell before he could block. Eventually, his aura dropped in the red. Russell collapsed, exhausted from the fight.

Cardin walked over to Brick who was still on the ground. He raised his mace over his head. "This is for all the times you made me look like an idiot." Brick chuckled. "Well now you can today to the list." Before Cardin could even process what Brick just said, he heard a bang and felt pain coming from his hand. He lowered his mace and saw that Ruby had shot him. Brick took advantage of the moment to get back up.

Blake threw her Gambol Shroud and wrapped the ribbon around one of Cardin's arms. Weiss made a glyph to hold the other. Brick put some distance between himself and the immobilized Cardin. He dropped his swords and leaped up into the air. He had found his chink in the armour. Brick pulled out two throwing knives and threw them at a small area on top of Cardin's shoulders. They sliced his shoulders which lowered his aura by a bit. But what Brick was really aiming for, were the leather straps on his shoulders. The knives had sliced those straps and the chest plate fell to the ground, leaving Cardin without protection. Brick landed and he looked at Ruby. As if they had some sort of mental link, Ruby knew exactly what to do. She folded up Crescent Rose and threw it to Brick. He caught it and unfolded it again. He pointed the scythe downwards and shot the ground, which launched him up. In midair, Brick let his black flames engulf his body and Crescent Rose. With the scythe now aimed behind him, he fired a shot, launching himself at Cardin. He swung the scythe with such force, that it broke Weiss's glyph, tore Blake's ribbon, and sent Cardin across the room into a wall. The wall cracked upon his impact. Cardin bounced off the wall and fell face first onto the floor. Not only had he been thrown from the battlefield, but his aura was in the red.

"The winner of this match is team RWBY. Congratulations." Goodwitch declared. The team, including Yang who ran to them from where she was sitting, all high fived. "That was awesome!" Brick exclaimed.

"Good teamwork!" Said Ruby. "Let's keep this up for the next round"

"You bet." Said Weiss.

After they were done celebrating, Goodwitch told them that they could take a break and get some food. After talking to team JNPR, the girls and Brick learned that they had won against Velvet's team. They ate lunch together but noticed that CRDL wasn't there.

CRDL was busy sulking in the hallway. "Why are you idiots so useless?" Cardin shouted at his team.

"I know right! It's so hard to find good help these days."

CRDL looked towards the other end of the hallway. From around the corner, Adam emerged.

"Who the fuck are you?" Cardin questioned.

"Someone who wants to help you."

"Oh really! How can you help me?"

Adam chuckled. "I will help you get revenge on team RWBY. You see, I represent some very powerful people. They feel that your team would be perfect in helping us out."

"Who exactly do you represent?"

"Ever heard of the White Fang?"

Cardin drew his mace. "No way in hell I'm gonna work for you! Your whole race is scum, and I will not be scum."

"I understand that you do not like us but let me put it into perspective for you. While my organization does some not-so-nice things, we are extremely powerful. We are strong. And if you think about it, RWBY has done more to you than we have. I bet that you have never even seen a member of the White Fang in person, before today. Or maybe you actually have. But that's beside the point. Just remember, the enemy of your enemy is your friend."

"How do I know that I can trust you? For all I know, you are just gonna kill us as soon as we aren't useful."

Adam chuckled again. "We only kill our enemies. Nowadays, with all of the threats in the world, people can't afford to within their own organizations. The world is falling apart, and when it does, we will be the ones to rebuild it. I'm offering you a part of that."

"You make a good point, but I'm still not sure that we can trust you."

"I understand. I'll give you some time to think about it. If you want to get in touch, go to this address and order meat from the finest of bulls."

"Umm…okay."

"I'll see you later." Adam turned around and walked around the corner. Cardin went to look around the corner, but Adam was already gone.

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Arena (again)_

Teams RWBY and JNPR were in position with their weapons drawn. This time, Blake would be the one to sit out, since her ribbon was torn and she felt that it would impair her abilities in a fight.

"Let the final match of today's competition, BEGIN!"

Brick knew that JNPR would be a much more difficult challenge than CRDL and he also knew that without Jaune to guide them, they would be in trouble. So he wasted no time dealing with that problem. Brick leaped up into the air and tossed a throwing knife at Jaune. It got caught on his hood and pulled him down until it was impaled in the ground. It was a great move, expect for that it left him open for an attack. Before Brick could react, he took the full force of a grenade from Nora. She was too busy giggling to notice that Yang was approaching her. She hit Nora with a bullet propelled punch which put her on the ground.

While Jaune continued to struggle with the knife that had him pinned down, Pyrrha and Weiss clashed. Their swords rang with every blocked strike. Ruby and Ren were both flying around the arena. Ruby was dashing around, trying to get in a good strike while Ren was constantly jumping out of the way. He kept doing flips and rolls, almost like he was trying to show off. Nora stood up and began to fire grenades at Yang who countered with her more powerful dust shots. Jaune eventually managed to pull the knife out of the floor. When he stood up, he was face to face with Brick, who also had just stood up.

Jaune jumped back and stood next to Pyrrha, who had just been pushed back by Weiss. Jaune looked at Pyrrha who nodded her head. "SWITCH!" Jaune called out. Ren completely forgot about his little faceoff with Ruby and charged at Brick. Pyrrha changed her sword into rifle form and shot at Ruby. Nora changed Magnhild into its hammer form and swung at Weiss. Jaune charged at Yang with his sword held high.

Nora followed through with her swing but Weiss put up a glyph just in time to deflect Nora's attack. Weiss decided that maybe she should do a little bit of switching up of her own. She ran towards Nora but leapt over her with the help of a glyph. Weiss held herself up on a glyph and launched herself at Jaune. She missed her strike but ended up slamming herself into Jaune. They both went flying out of the arena, eliminating the both of them.

Ren slashed at Brick with Storm Flower, which Brick was barely able to block. Ren jumped back and took advantage of his long range capabilities. He began firing at Brick who could only run out of the way. Brick noticed though that Ren was extremely focused on him. "Yang!" Brick called out. Yang, just had her fist blocked by Pyrrha's shield, looked over to Brick. She saw the situation and ran at Ren. She slammed him with a propelled punch which knocked him to the floor. Ruby was too busy watching her team to notice a charging Nora. Nora got in a powerful swing which knocked Ruby almost out of the arena. Unfortunately for Ruby, her aura went into the red.

Nora turned her attention to Yang. As a result of dodging her grenades, Yang ended up back to back with Brick, who had his swords locked with Pyrrha's. He managed to push her back. Ren stood up and shot at Yang, who whirled her head out of the way of the shot. "Nice try but you-" Yang was saying until she saw a strand of her golden hair. All five stared as the small golden lock of hair floated its way to the ground. "You son of a bitch!" Yang's body began to ignite but before she could charge at Ren, Brick grabbed her wrist. "Let's win this." He said. His body began to ignite as well. Soon, both of their flames began to join. The two fighter were glowing a combination of orange and black light. Throughout the whole room, the heat radiating from them could be felt.

The two jumped away from their opponents. Brick leapt up and landed on Yang's hands, which were in a position to launch him up. Once she did, Brick spun himself around in the air, launching off a large volley of flames from his two swords. Nora was about to take the full hit but Ren intercepted it. After being hit by the flames, his aura dropped down into the red.

The two JNPR girls stared down their opponents. Brick charged at them with Yang following right behind him. Pyrrha got into a combat stance in Brick's path. But instead of trying to attack Pyrrha, Brick dropped to the floor and slid in between Pyrrha's legs. Yang who was right behind Brick before he slid, took advantage of the now surprised Pyrrha to punch her and knock her into Nora, sending them both out of the arena.

"Today's winner is, team RWBY!" Goodwitch called. Over to the side where Blake was sitting, she smiled. She watched as her team had a group hug. "That was quite impressive." Blake looked over her shoulder to find Professor Ozpin standing behind her. "How long have you been there?" She asked. Ozpin chuckled. "Long enough." He then walked away.

Blake went over to join her team's celebration. Eventually, their celebrating was interrupted by Professor Goodwitch. "Good job. Your team showed great skill and teamwork today. You will have to honour of leading Signal's field trip. Congratulations. Also, while this may have been a contest for only the previously mentioned honour, your victory today will affect our views and expectations of you, as well as those of others. Once again, good job."

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY's Dorm_

The team filed into the dorm room. They were all exhausted. Ruby wasted no time climbing into her bed. Weiss, Brick, and Yang changed into their pajamas. Blake planned to shower before bed. After they finished changing, they talked about all the different cool maneuvers they pulled off today. Eventually though, Weiss remembered what happened earlier. "So wanna tell us about that kiss?" She asked.

"Oh yeah." Brick said. "Well, this morning, before you guys were awake, Yang and I went down to work out. When we were down there, I asked her what she wanted to tell me from yesterday and instead of actually saying anything, she kissed me."

"Aww! It's about time." Blake exclaimed.

"So now I guess we're a couple." Yang said. Brick nodded in confirmation.

"Well now that we know about that, I'm gonna go shower." Blake declared. She headed into the bathroom.

Weiss went over and sat down at her desk. She wasn't sure how she was feeling right now. It was a combination of many emotions such as anger, sadness, frustration, etc. and it made her confused. She thought back to her song and once again realizing that the words were true. She felt like the loneliest of all.

"_Why? I knew I should have said something to him. I shouldn't have been afraid. What does he see in her anyway? She's stupid. She's obnoxious. She's probably been with more than one different guy. But this is my teammate. And if I really do have feelings for him, I should want him to be happy." _Weiss managed to swallow her anger. "I'm happy for you two." She muttered.

"Thanks Weiss." Brick said.

Weiss yawned. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed. See ya in the morning." Weiss got into her bed.

Yang yawned as well. "I'm gonna do the same. You coming?" She asked Brick.

"Nah. I have to finish this report for Professor Oobleck that I have been putting off."

"Have fun." She teased as she climbed into bed.

Brick sat down at his desk and worked for about 20 minutes. Eventually, he felt his bladder starting to hurt so he made his way to the bathroom, completely forgetting that Blake was still in there. When he open the door, he was in shock at what was before him.

Blake had a towel on which covered her body. Brick was staring at her head. Two little cat ears were in the place where Blake usually wore her bow. Blake was too busy staring down at something in her hands to notice Brick's entry. It wasn't until she finally looked up at the mirror that she noticed Brick in the reflection. She quickly put her hands over her ears and turned around. "What did you see?"

"I saw enough." Brick said plainly. "So it's you."

"Wait what?" She asked.

"You're the reason I'm here."

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked confused.

"I have been secretly doing background checks on every Faunus in our year. I had checked everyone and discovered that none of them were the person I was looking for. I got a tip that someone in the first year class was a former high level White Fang operative. None of the Faunus student in the entire school have any White Fang connections. But now, there is one more Faunus student. Which means that you are my link."

Blake looked down. She felt so scared. She felt defeated. Her whole purpose for coming to Beacon was to leave the White Fang behind. But it had to come back. "So what now? Are you going to kill me or torture me or something?" She asked grimly.

Brick's face now wore an appalled expression. "Oh god no! Why would I wanna hurt you? I wasn't looking to kill you. I was looking so you could help me."

"Help you?"

"My father was killed by the White Fang. A high level assassin. Someone that you worked with."

"Do you promise not to tell the others about what you saw?"

"I wasn't planning on it. I was hoping not to involve any of you."

"Alright. When did your father die?"

"Eight years ago. He was a double agent in the White Fang and his assignment at the time was to retrieve a stolen file."

"Oh no."

"What? Why? Who killed my father?"

"It's not who killed him. It's why he was killed."

"What was in that file?"

"Something that could put the Schnee Dust Company out of business. The file was actually only a travel transcript for something called Project Survivor. That file was proof that the project existed. I wasn't allowed to know many of the details but I know that it involved unauthorized human testing. We took that file thinking that if we could prove that Schnee Dust was conducting illegal experiments on people, it would shut them down."

"So why didn't you? Couldn't you have just taken the file after you burned my dad's body?"

"We didn't burn his body! He did. When he knew he was going to die, he burned himself up and took that file with him to is grave."

Brick was having a hard time taking in all of this information. "Did you kill him?"

"No. I didn't have anything to do with it. But my partner did. His name is Adam Taurus."

**Please pm me or leave a review with your feedback especially about the fight scenes. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Ruby Fan Club

**First, I'd like to apologize for this being a little late. It was because I took the weekend off to celebrate my birthday. I mean, who doesn't want to spend a whole weekend celebrating themselves? Anyway, without further ado,**

**Chapter 10**

**The Ruby Fan Club**

"Finally. I finally know." Brick said.

Blake just stared at him. She couldn't help but feel guilty about what happened to Brick's father. While she may have had nothing to do with it, she felt bad knowing she was a friend to the man who did. Blake was also feeling worried. She was worried about whether or not Brick would judge her because of her past.

But her worries were put to rest almost immediately. Brick pulled Blake into a hug. Blake was astonished. Brick kept on repeating the words "thank you" to her. Eventually she heard Brick sniffle and she felt a small wet drop fall on her shoulder. Brick was now crying. Blake wasn't quite sure what emotion it was that encouraged his tears. She wanted to embrace him, but there was one problem.

"Um…Brick...I'm still naked."

He quickly released Blake from the hug and took a step back. "Sorry."

"It's alright…So we don't mention this to anyone. Alright?"

"Alright."

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Courtyard_

It was two days since that night and today was when the students from Signal would be visiting Beacon. Team RWBY was waiting in the courtyard for the students to arrive. The four girls were very excited, while Brick on the other hand was dreading this.

"You really need to cheer up." Yang said. "It will be fine."

"No it won't!" Brick whined. "I don't want my sister meeting you guys."

"Is she that bad?" Ruby asked.

"She's not bad. Just very socially awkward."

Yang put her hands on Brick's shoulders and turned him towards her. "You need to relax. If you think about it, we are all kinda socially awkward in our own special ways." She gave him a light peck on the lips. "Feel better now?"

"A bit." He muttered.

"Only a bit? Do I need to try harder?" She asked.

"Hey. I don't mean to break up the cute moment but we are still here." Blake said.

"Oh, right." Yang said. She brought herself closer to Brick so she could whisper in his ear. "We can continue later." She whispered.

Brick smiled. Yang let go of his shoulders and then they turned around. "When are they gonna get here? We've been waiting for like half an hour." Ruby whined.

"More like 10 minutes. They should be here soon." Weiss said. "Can you believe that we get to do this?"

"Actually, yes." Yang said. "I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"It's definitely a big deal. These students will one day become the people who protect our world, just like we will, and we get the honour of giving them a look into their futures."

"Also, we get to see one of the students fight one of us. I'm interested to see their combat capabilities." Blake said.

"Well if they were in my uncle's class, they should be pretty good." Ruby said enthusiastically.

"Interesting you should say that Ruby." They all turned to see Professor Ozpin standing just behind them with Professor Goodwitch at his side. "I believe that Professor Qrow will be the teacher chaperone for this trip."

"Wait a second. Professor Qrow is your uncle?" Brick asked.

"Yup. He taught me everything I know about fighting." Ruby answered.

"That is awesome. He was my favourite teacher from Signal." Brick exclaimed.

"Well then, prepare to say hello. I believe that they are just about to arrive." Ozpin stated. He pointed to a spot in the sky and sure enough, an airship was visible in the distance. "Once they disembark, I will welcome them, give them a short speech, and then hand them off to you five." Ozpin explained.

The airship landed and shortly after, the students began to disembark. From a distance, Brick watched as the Signal students looked around and admired what was in front of them. There were about 32 students, 16 boys and 16 girls. The different cliques were clearly visible throughout the group based on where everyone was walking. Everyone seemed to fit in with a certain one of the cliques, except for one girl. Brick saw his sister in the back and he sighed.

Shayna was walking at the back of the group. She was wearing black leather jacket that was studded with spikes on the shoulders. Her black khaki pants had tears in the knees. She had a silver chain necklace with a skull charm hanging from her neck. On her back, she was wearing a backpack. Her black hair was in a ponytail.

Once the students were all close, Ozpin cleared his throat. "Hello. As you may or may not know, I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster here at Beacon. It is my pleasure to welcome you all to my school. Today, you will get a glimpse into what could be your futures. Our first year student representatives will be showing you around the school. And now I will let them take over. I hope you all enjoy yourselves." With that, Ozpin and Goodwitch made their way back into the school.

Ruby stepped forward. "Welcome. We're are team RWBY. My name is Ruby Rose an-" Ruby was cut off by a collective gasp from the girls.

One of them approached Ruby. "Oh my god! I can't believe that we get to meet the Ruby Rose."

"Huh?" Ruby said, with a confused expression that she shared with the rest of her teammates.

"You're a legend at Signal." Another one of the girls said.

"You're the first girl to graduate from Signal two years early. There isn't a single student at Signal who doesn't know who you are." The first girl said.

"She doesn't look like much to me." Shayna called out from the back. All of the girls turned to look at her.

"How can you say that?" One girl said.

"Yeah! Learn some respect you freak!" Another said. The girls all giggled.

A man came out from behind the group. He had short blonde hair and lilac eyes. He had thick eyeglasses resting on his face. He wore an open brown blazer with a white button down shirt underneath and brown pants. "Now, now girls. I think that maybe you should take your own advice if you're going to be calling one of your peers a freak."

"Yes Professor Qrow." One of the girls said.

Ruby cleared her throat to regain the attention of the students. "As I was saying. I am the leader of team RWBY. Today, the five of us will be giving you a tour of Beacon, and at the end of the tour, one of you will get to pick one of us to face off against in the arena. Now, shall we begin the tour?"

Ruby and the girls lead the group of students down the rest of the path and into the school. Brick and Professor Qrow remained behind. Brick had turned around to watch the group walk away and Qrow stood at his side. "It's been a while." Qrow said.

"Indeed it has." Brick replied. "How is Shayna doing in class?"

"She's my best student in terms of academics and combat. Socially, she's the worst." Qrow answered.

"Why am I not surprised? Please tell me she has at least one friend."

"She has exactly one friend." Qrow lifted up his arm and pointed to one of the boys in the group. The boy had short messy dirty blonde hair. He was kinda scraggly, but looked like he could still put up a good fight. On his waist hung what looked like a wand. The wand had a small compartment with many different colours glowing from it, like the one in Weiss's sword except smaller.

"It's actually really cute. He is head over heels for her and she has no idea." Qrow said.

"Really? Is he a good student?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you monitor Shayna's friends?" Qrow asked. Brick gave him a look and Qrow chuckled. "He's a good student. He's not the best in combat but he is incredibly smart. He would make a great tactician."

"Hmm…Is he a good kid?"

"Yes, he is, just like his mother. Speaking of being a good kid, we should probably get going. As I much as I'd love to continue our private chat, I have a job to do and you have a tour to lead."

"Since when did you become so official?" Brick asked.

"Since they decided to give me a raise."

The two caught up with the group who was just about to enter the doors. Brick ran up to the front to join his teammates in leading the tour.

As they lead the Signal students through the halls, they explained the purpose of all the different facilities. Ruby and Weiss had taken the most initiative in leading this tour. They were the most enthusiastic about it. Ruby did her best to try and make the most boring things in the school sound exciting.

The rest of the team tried to lead the tour, but the students didn't seem to pay attention to them. Every time someone who wasn't Ruby tried to tell the group anything, they seemed to be on their phones or chit chatting. But when Ruby spoke, they put everything down. The amount of respect they had for Ruby coupled with the amount of disrespect they gave off to everyone else was actually quite impressive.

Eventually, Yang's level of boredom began to rise. "You were right." She said to Brick.

"About what?" He asked.

"This is really boring. I just wanna watch someone fight."

"Actually, I said that waiting was boring. This isn't so bad."

"Whatever." Yang looked over her shoulder and saw that Shayna was still at the back of the pack. "What's up with your sister? She seems really annoyed or angry or something like that."

"She's always like this when it comes to school. By the way, I'm sorry about what she said to Ruby."

"It's fine. Ruby didn't seemed to be phased by it. I think she was too busy processing the fact that everyone at Signal worships her."

"Good point. So who do you think will be fighting and who do you think they will pick?" Brick asked.

Yang looked over her shoulder again. She examined each of the students until one caught her eye. "That one." She said as she discreetly gestured towards one of them. Brick also looked of his shoulder and saw that she was talking about the same kid that Qrow had told him about.

"Why him?" Brick asked.

"I'm not quite sure. There's just something about him makes me think that he wants it the most. As for who he will pick, I can say without a doubt that it will be Ruby."

"Couldn't agree more."

Throughout the tour, along with explaining the different facilities, the team also had to show off a few of the classes. When they reached Professor Port's class, Port was in the middle of one of his stories. A few of the Signal students had to stifle their laughs but most students still ended up snickering at the large professor.

When they were at Professor Oobleck's class, the Signal students had a very difficult time following the teacher. As usual, he was bouncing around all over the place, speaking a mile a minute. You could see student were frantically trying to keep up with the teacher in taking their notes.

Eventually, the tour was came to its conclusion. The last place for the team to take the Signal students to was Professor Goodwitch's class.

"Alright guys. This is an environment that you should all be familiar with." Ruby said with zeal. She pushed open the door to the arenas. Goodwitch's class was currently doing a full class training session. The Signal student stared in awe at the different one on one or team fights that were going on throughout the room.

Team RWBY led the group over to one of the empty arenas. "Alright guys. I'm pretty sure this is part you've all been waiting for. Unc- I mean Professor Qrow, has chosen the student that he feels is worthy of it. That student will get to pick one of us to face off against. Professor Qrow, if you would."

"Thank you Ruby. First off, I'd like to thank team RWBY for giving up their time to show us the school. I think you all should as well."

"Thank you team RWBY." They all said in sync.

"Good. Now, after having the honour of teaching all of you for quite some time, I have been observing each and every one of you. I've been watching you grow as people and as warriors to see who deserved this opportunity. While all of you are great students, I could only pick one of you, so please don't be upset if it's not you. I would like to call up Shayna Underwood to face off against the opponent of her choice."

There was murmuring amongst the students. The blonde boy patted Shayna on the back and then she made her way to stand next to Qrow. "Now, choose your opponent."

Shayna turned to face the members of team RWBY. She scanned each one. _"Let's see. While I have five choices, it really comes down to two. Ruby would make for a great challenge. She's the girl who graduated early. It would make for a great story too. But then again…I think I'd rather get even."_ Shayna thought.

"Have you made your decision?" Qrow asked.

"I have. I choose Weiss Schnee to be my opponent."

The murmuring amongst the students continued. Everyone except Weiss and Shayna cleared off of the arena and went to sit on the sides. Goodwitch stepped up onto the arena and the two opponents went on opposite sides.

"This match will be played with tournament style ruling. The match will be called once either fighter has their aura drop into the red or if they or their weapon is thrown from the arena. Fighters, are you ready?"

Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster, got into her stance, and nodded at Goodwitch. Shayna nodded at Goodwitch as well, but didn't pull out any kind of weapon.

"Let's the match…BEGIN!"

Weiss brought her sword in close to her body, and charged at Shayna. Shayna's once blank expression was now replaced with a smirk. At the last second, Shayna flipped out of Weiss's way. Shayna jumped over to the other side of the arena. She reached her arm behind her into her backpack and pulled out a metal sphere.

Shayna brought her arm back and then threw the sphere towards her opponent. Weiss brought up a glyph to defend. The sphere bounced off the glyph but instead of falling to the ground, it continued to throw itself at the glyph. Eventually, the glyph shattered, which astonished Weiss for nothing had ever broken one of her glyph before. The sphere rammed into Weiss's stomach and sent her flying into the wall. The sphere then flew back to Shayna and floated over her shoulder, bobbing up and down.

Shayna nodded her head and the sphere flew at Weiss again. Weiss now knew that a glyph wouldn't be enough to stop it, so she leapt over it. Once she landed, she got into a stance and the chamber on her sword rotated until it glowed blue. But before she could unleash her attack, the sphere rounded its flight path and hit Weiss in the back. Weiss face-planted and the sphere hovered above her. Shayna nodded her head again and the sphere dropped out the air. It landed on Weiss's back and Weiss cried out in pain.

Shayna lift her arm up and swished her hand around. The sphere squeezed its way under Weiss's stomach to lift her up. The sphere flipped Weiss up and into another wall, which Weiss hit with a loud crunch. Shayna nodded her head one more time and the sphere flew at Weiss's chest. A loud crack was heard upon the spheres impact with Weiss. She cried out in pain again. Shayna began to walk towards Weiss who was still up against the wall. The crowd was watching in astonishment at what was going on in front of them.

"Does the name John Underwood mean anything to you?" Shayna asked.

"What?"

"I said, does the name John Underwood mean anything to you?" Shayna repeated, this time with anger in her voice.

"No it doesn't. Why?" Weiss asked.

"Of course you don't." Shayna flicked her wrist and the sphere flew at Weiss again. Weiss grunted.

"He used to work for your family's company. You may noticed that I said used to."

"Look, if you're trying to get someone their job back, this was not the way to do it."

"You're mistaken. He wasn't fired. He was killed working for your father!" Shayna exclaimed.

"In case you didn't know, my family's company is at war right now with the White Fang. People are dying and I'm sure that this guy was no different from the rest."

"Shut up!" Shayna screamed. She flicked her wrist again and the sphere struck Weiss again. Another crack was heard and blood began to soak threw Weiss's jacket. "This man wasn't just another casualty. He was my dad. He told me that your father was his friend, but he let him die! And it was all for a stupid file which wasn't even recovered!"

Weiss's eyes widened. She now knew exactly what Shayna was ranting about. "Oh my god. I-I'm so sorry! But I had nothing to do with that!"

"Shut up!" Shayna had her sphere hit Weiss again. "How can you live with yourself knowing that people are dying on your father's watch every day? Those people are dying to protect your family, and you don't even bother to remember them! People like you make me sick." She had her sphere hit Weiss one more time, putting Weiss's aura at a dangerously low level.

Shayna knelt down to Weiss. "Be thankful that you hit red when you did." She whispered to her. Shayna grabbed her sphere out of the air and wiped off the bloodstain that remained from the beating she gave to Weiss.

"The winner is Shayna Underwood." Goodwitch proclaimed. She pulled out her scroll and called for someone to take Weiss to the infirmary. Shayna walked off the arena and out of the room. Brick got up to run after her but Qrow put his hand on Brick's shoulder.

"Leave her. She needs to blow off some steam."

Brick sat back down and Ruby went back up on stage. "Well, that concludes the tour. It was a pleasure to be able to give you all a glimpse into your futures." Ruby walked off the stage and exited the room.

Qrow gathered up the students and had Blake, Brick, and Yang lead them back outside. All the students had left the room except for the one blonde boy. He was talking to Goodwitch. Eventually he finished talking to her and he walked out. His face wore a sad expression. Qrow approached Goodwitch.

"Ethan's a good student Glynda. You should be proud of him." Qrow said.

"If that were true, you would have picked him for the fight and not some brat with a grudge."

"You used to act out just like that. You need to stop being so hard on the boy."

"Maybe you should be going harder on him." Goodwitch paused for a brief second. "I cannot play favourites and go easy on him."

"That doesn't mean that you need to be this hard on him though."

"I don't need you telling me how to treat my own child."

"I'm not trying to do that. I'm just giving you a little friendly advice." Qrow began to walk away. "But you really should be proud of him." He left the room, leaving Goodwitch to tend to her class.

* * *

_Roman's Warehouse_

It was late and Roman was alone. He was sitting on a small crate, looking at their heist board. He had been going over everything for about an hour, trying to work out all of the potential outcomes. He wanted to make sure that the heist could be executed without any problems.

He heard the door open, followed by the sound of high heels echoing through the warehouse. When the sounds stopped, Roman felt two arms being draped over his shoulders.

"Why are you here so late?" Roman asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Cinder replied. "I'm checking on you."

"There's nothing to check. I'm fine." He said.

"No you're not. You're far from it. I can tell how stressed you are."

Roman sighed, turned around, and took Cinder's arms off of him. "I just want this all to work. Also, DeathGrip said something to me that's been making me kinda nervous."

"Don't let that kid worry you." Cinder said. She sat on his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. She wrapped her arms around him again. "Let me help relieve some of the stress." She moved in to kiss him but Roman raised his hand and put one finger over her lips.

"Not now Cinder. I can't deal with this right now."

"Come on Roman. We're all alone in here. You need to relax."

"I will relax once I know for sure that you are safe."

"I can take care of myself Roman. You should be worrying about your own well-being."

"Like I said, I'm fine."

Cinder got off his lap and sat down next to him. "Alright. If you insist." She leaned in close to his face. "But if you do decide that you want to relieve some stress, let me know. I'd be glad to help." She whispered seductively to him.

"What's gotten into you?" Roman asked.

"Well, it's been a while since last time. Girls have urges. And mine are getting stronger."

Roman sighed again. "You know what? I think I do need to relieve some stress."

Cinder giggled. "Then let's get started." She kissed him on the lips. The two kissed for a while but at one point, Roman pulled away.

"I love you Cinder."

"I love you too."

* * *

_Beacon Academy – Infirmary _

The majority of Team RWBY was sitting around a bed which Weiss was lying in. It turned out that Weiss's injuries looked worse than they actually were. She looked pretty beat up but it was really just a bunch of cuts and bruises. The reason she was in the infirmary was because despite it only being cuts and bruises, they were pretty bad.

"I'm so sorry about my sister." Brick said.

"You can stop saying that. I already forgave you." Weiss scolded.

Yang put one arm on Brick. Brick sighed. "Alright."

"Thank you. But I do need to talk to you about it." Weiss said. She looked at each one of her teammates. "Alone please." Ruby, Blake, and Yang exited the room.

"What's this about, Weiss?"

"Something your sister said when she was beating the shit out of me. She said something about a file."

"Yeah. My dad worked as a spy in the White Fang. His job was to deliver intel about White Fang operations to your dad. But then that file was stolen. Maybe you know something about it. Do you know what Project Survivor is?"

Weiss's eyes widened. "It makes sense now. That's what was stolen."

"Wait, what?"

"The night that you and Blake went out for dinner, I got a call from my dad. He said something had been stolen. Something that could ruin the company and make the sacrifices of a man be in vein. He must have been talking about your dad."

"So what is Project Survivor?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It was a secret for a very good reason."

"Please Weiss. I need to know what my dad died to protect."

Weiss sighed. "You're sister was right. He died protecting my family."

* * *

_Schnee Dust Company HQ_

Mr. Schnee was sitting at his desk in his office. There was a knock at his door. "Come in."

A man in a white lab coat entered the office. He was holding a file. "I have the documents you've requested sir. If you don't mind me asking, why do you need them? That project was terminated eight years ago."

"That's private."

"I'm sorry sir." The man said. He then exited the office leaving Mr. Schnee alone. He sighed and rubbed his forehead with one hand. With the other hand, he opened the file. It appeared to be a personnel file, of a little boy with white hair and light blue eyes.

**Dots are continuing to connect. What will happen next time? Please leave a review or pm me if you have any feedback. Also favourite and follow this story if you enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11: Under the Radar

**Not much to say really. I watched the new intro animation for RWBY volume 2 which made me very excited and even more impatient. In the next few chapters, including this one, the canonical parts of the story will be finished. That's it so without further ado,**

**Chapter 11**

**Under the Radar**

_Roman's Warehouse_

Roman, DeathGrip, and Cinder were all standing around the heist board. It had been about a week and a half since the night of 'stress relieving' between Roman and Cinder.

"Alright. Tomorrow, during the afternoon, the cargo ship will be pulling into Vale harbour. So tomorrow night is when we will make our move. If you could please turn your attention to the heist board, I will explain the plan." Roman said.

On the board there were pictures of the ship from different angles, as well as pictures of the spot in the harbour that the ship would be docking in.

"I've spent the last two weeks planning this and throughout those two weeks I've thought up a few ways that we could pull this off. But, in the end I decided that this way was the smartest and most effective. It also happens to be quite simple which is very lovely. From the intel that I've been collecting, I have learned that Schnee has ordered for extra security. That means guards, radar systems, alarms, etc. This all means that getting onto the ship won't be easy."

Roman pointed to a picture showcasing the ship and the sky just above it. "The first obstacle is the radar system. The way this system is set up is to detect high flying aircrafts in the vicinity. The easiest way around it is to fly low enough to avoid it. That's why I'll be flying one of the two airships. The other one will be piloted by Adam."

Roman then pointed to a picture of the ship. "This is where things could go a few ways. Depending on how the men that Adam sent me take care of the guards, we could either just barely reach our goal or surpass it greatly. If these mutts decide to go in quiet like I will instruct them to do, then we can silently take out the guards and avoid triggering any of the alarms. In this scenario, with the guards taken out, we can load up the contents of the crates onto the ships and make our way out."

"And what if they don't go in quietly?" DeathGrip asked.

"I was just about to get to that." Roman pointed to a picture of a specific crate. "This crate holds the most value out of all of them. Since DeathGrip is the only one of us strong enough to move that crate, you will be hooking it up to one of the ships."

"Alright."

"After either of those two scenarios plays out we make our escape, still flying under the radar. Any questions?"

"Yeah." DeathGrip called out. "What if something that we don't expect ends up in our way?"

"Well, I doubt there is much that you can't handle but I did think of that. Cinder will be on standby in one of the ships as a last resort in case we get overwhelmed. Any more questions?"

"What if reinforcements arrive before we can load up the cargo?"

"We will have two airships on standby with reinforcements of our own. Is everything clear?"

Both Cinder and DeathGrip nodded their heads. "Alright. You two will meet me here tomorrow so we can prepare. In the meantime, feel free to do as you please. Just don't go too far."

Cinder and DeathGrip began to walk away but Roman put one hand on DeathGrip's shoulder. "There's one more thing I need to talk to you about."

Roman brought DeathGrip back over to the board. He grabbed the bottom and flipped it over, revealing a completely new heist. On the board were now pictures of DeathGrip, Yang, Brick, and the little boy from the Schnee file. "What is this?" DeathGrip asked.

"This is the plan for after we have secured tomorrows score. Tell me, when was the last time you hung out with your brother?"

_Vale – Downtown _

Team RWBY was walking through town, admiring the decorations that were all over town for the upcoming Vytal Festival. The whole team was there, including Weiss, who had fully recovered from her injuries just a few days earlier. The girls were all looking around while Brick was lost in thought. For the past week and a half, all he could think about was Project Survivor. What was it? Why was it so important? Every time Brick thought he was going to get an answer, he just ended up with more questions.

"Remnant to Brick. Hello?" Yang called as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Oh what? Sorry. I must have spaced out for a second." Brick said as he snapped back into reality.

"I've been trying to get your attention for like two minutes but you've just been staring off into space. Actually, you've been doing that a lot lately. What's going on?" Yang questioned.

Brick looked at Weiss who was shaking her head. He then looked at Blake and saw her bow twitching. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"This is not nothing. This is something. Tell me what's going on."

Brick sighed. "You really wanna know?" Both Weiss and Blake now had wide eyes. Yang nodded her head. Brick sighed again. "I'm nervous about midterms." Weiss and Blake both almost fell over from relief.

"That's it? That's what's been bothering you for all this time?"

"Yup. I told you, don't worry about it."

"Alright. If it makes you feel any better, I don't feel nervous." Yang said with a grin.

"Why would that make me feel better?" Brick asked.

"Because I'm your girlfriend and you should care about my wellbeing." Yang replied. Since the day that Yang confessed to Brick, they had been on a couple of dates.

"Fair enough." Brick said. "I guess it does make me feel a bit better now that you put it that way."

"I told you." Yang said.

Weiss cleared her throat to get their attention. "Can you two focus on something more important? Like how the contestants from the other schools will be here soon."

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Ruby asked.

"Because this event is fantastic. It celebrates us as a nation and brings all of us together." Weiss explained.

"You really know how to make a fun event sound boring." Yang said.

"I bet you just wanna spy on the competition." Blake said.

"You can't prove that." Weiss said with her arms crossed.

Just then, they heard shouting coming from the nearby docks. They looked in the direction the noises came from and saw two police men chasing a monkey Faunus. The Faunus dashed passed them but looked at them for a brief second as he ran by.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss shouted before running off after him. The rest of the team followed her. They turned a few corners and came to a sudden stop when Weiss ran into a girl. Weiss quickly got off of the girl she crashed into and apologized.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fine. How are you?" The girl asked while still lying on the ground.

"I'm alright." Weiss asked with a nervous tone.

"Do you wanna get up?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. Yes I do." The girl said before quickly standing up. "My name is Penny. It is nice to meet you all."

"I'm Ruby."

"Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake elbowed Yang in the stomach. "I mean, I'm Yang."

"And I'm Brick."

Penny gasped. "You're a brick? You don't look like one. You are far too big to one brick. Are you sure you aren't made up of many bricks?"

Yang and Ruby stifled their laughter while Brick sighed. "I think you misunderstood. I'm not a brick. My name is Brick."

"Oh. Well that makes much more sense."

"So what brings you here?" Ruby asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny said as she put her hand up as if to salute them.

"You're fighting in the tournament? You don't look like it." Weiss commented.

"Coming from the girl in a dress." Blake remarked.

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss said defensively. Ruby dash over to Weiss's side and put her hand out for a high five.

"Oh trust me, I'm combat ready." Penny said, saluting once more.

"Well, take care friend." Ruby said before her team joined her in walking away.

Once they rounded the corner and thought they were out of earshot, Yang spoke. "She was kinda weird."

"Well now that that's done, we should keep looking for that scoundrel."

They were about to continue walking when Penny appeared in front of them. "What did you call me?" She asked.

Weiss kept looking back and forth in between Yang and Penny.

"I-I didn't think you could hear me." Yang stammered.

"No not you." Penny said as she walk towards Ruby. "You."

"Me?" Ruby squeaked out.

"You called me friend. Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.

Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder to see her friends gesturing for her to say no. "Uh…yeah. Sure. We're friends…"

Penny had a big smile on her face. "Seeeensational! We can go shopping, and paint our nails, and talk about cute boys!" She said with glee.

Ruby leaned over to Weiss. "Is this what I was like when you first met me?" Ruby asked.

"No. She seems far more coordinated." Weiss answered. "Oh wait. Maybe you've seen him."

"Seen who?" Penny asked.

"That scoundrel." Weiss said, but Penny still looked confused. Weiss pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket with a poorly drawn picture of the guy that she was looking for. "That filthy Faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep calling him that?" Blake shouted.

"I have a few questions too." Brick said as he half raised his hand. "Since when do you have pockets, and when did you have the time to draw that?" Weiss just Brick a cold, disapproving look, which made him sulk a little.

"As for what you said Blake, I keep calling him that because that's what he is. Do want me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"That guy is still a person. Stop calling him filth. Stop calling him a scoundrel." Blake exclaimed.

"Why are you defending him? You saw that he clearly broke the law." Weiss retorted.

"People break the law all the time! I don't hear you calling them scum. How about Roman Torchwick, or that DeathGrip guy we saw on the news? Huh? Are they filth?" Blake shouted.

"Of course they are? I just haven't ever seen it up close before." Weiss said.

The other four continued to watch as Weiss and Blake continued to shout at each other. Penny leaned over to Ruby. "Are we having fun yet?" She asked. Ruby just sighed.

_Beacon Academy – Team RWBY Dorm_

Blake and Weiss were still arguing, and it was starting to get late. Brick, Ruby, and Yang still stayed out of the fiery argument. Brick had a different perspective on the whole argument. Since he knew about Blake's secret, he actually understood why she was defending a group of terrorists. And because of this, despite as much as Brick wanted to agree with Weiss, he just couldn't.

"Do you wanna know why I despise the White Fang?" Weiss said. She walked over to the window and stared out into the night. "Do you wanna know why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? It's because they have been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. People missing, board members executed. And I'm not the only victim from all of this. Just ask Brick. He knows the pain that the White Fang brings to people."

Weiss turned around and faced Blake again. "Stop defending a race that hates humanity!" She exclaimed.

"WELL MAYBE WE WERE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!"

We all stared at Blake. She had a frightened look on her face. She stammered, as if trying to say something, before dashing out of the dorm at a speed that rivaled Ruby.

"Blake wait!" Ruby cried out, but it was too late.

Brick looked around at his remaining teammates. "Well? Aren't we going to chase after her?"

"Are you sure you want to?" Weiss asked. "What if we find her and she tells us exactly what we don't want to hear? Besides, Blake's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"She's our friend. We need to go after her!" Brick exclaimed. "Come on Yang. Let's go." Brick made his way over to the door when he noticed that Yang wasn't following him.

"Come on Yang! Aren't you coming?"

Yang sighed. "Maybe we just need to give Blake her space. And Weiss is right. She can take care of herself."

"Alright then. I guess I'm on my own then." Brick said before storming out. The three girls watched him leave, only to see him come back about ten seconds later.

"Back already?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"I…forgot my stuff." Brick said dejectedly.

He went over to the desk and grabbed his swords and his scroll. He caught a quick glimpse out the window. His eyes widened once he realized that his search was going to be much easier than he anticipated.

Brick ran through the halls of Beacon as fast as he could until he finally reached the courtyard. He found Blake was curled up in a ball on the ground next to a fountain. She was holding her bow in one of her hands.

"They're cute you know." Brick said.

Blake looked up. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet from tears. "What?" She asked with a sniffle.

"Your cat ears. They're cute."

Blake sniffled. "Thanks. I'm sorry for losing it back there."

"It's alright." Brick said. He walked over to Blake and sat down next to her. "You wanna talk?" He asked.

"No. I just need some time." Blake said.

"Alright then. Listen, I'm gonna go back to the dorm. I'm not gonna tell them where you are. If you want to be found, they are only one message away and if you need anything, so am I." Brick got up and started to walk away but paused. "Oh, and Blake. Be careful." He walked back into the school leaving Blake alone.

She looked back at the ground when she heard more footsteps.

"You look much better without the bow."

_Schnee Dust Company HQ_

Mr. Schnee was sitting in his office with one of his officials. "Is everything set up for the ships arrival?" He asked.

"Yes sir. All of the security measures have been put into effect." The official said.

"Great."

Just then the door opened and Mr. Schnee's secretary popped her head in. "Sir. Mrs. Underwood is here as you requested."

"Excellent. Thank you Janice. Please send her in." Janice exited the office. "As for you." He said to the official. "I appreciate your assistance. You are dismissed."

The official opened the door to be face to face with Cherry Underwood. He went around her and Cherry entered the office. "Thank you for coming in Mrs. Underwood. Please have a seat." He said as he gestured to a chair across from him.

"You can drop the formalities with me, Kevin." Cherry said as she took a seat.

"If you say so, Cherry. Anyway, I have called you here for a few reasons." Mr. Schnee said. He pulled open one of his desk drawers and pulled out a file. "Does July 28, 2334 mean anything to you?"

"Should it?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, it should. That was the day 22 years ago that the Schnee storage facility codenamed The Fridge, was hit and 50 million lien worth of dust was stolen. But that wasn't all that happened on that day." He pulled out a picture from the file of a woman who looked exactly like Cherry did when she was younger. "It was also the day your sister, Cynthia, disappeared."

Mr. Schnee pulled out two more photos. He slid them across his desk towards Cherry. "Do you know these two people?"

"Well, this one is Roman Torchwick." She said pointing to the first picture. "And unless I'm mistaken, that is me." She said pointing to the second.

"You are indeed mistaken. This is Cinder Fall. She is a confirmed associate of Roman."

"Why are you showing me all of this?" Cherry asked.

"Because we believe that Cinder Fall is really Cynthia Fall. And if we are correct, then your son Brick is in great danger."

**Please pm me or leave a review if you have any feedback. Also follow and favourite this story if you like. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


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